I met Leon is 1988 when he was one of the first trail ride guides who started professional trail rides in South Africa. Horse riding has been a major family event and all the children were already riding with confidence at the age of 3. During 1995, I was invited by a friend to ride his horse in 30km endurance ride - after the ride my bones felt like overcooked pasta and Leon had to attend the prize giving for me. I started practicing with my own riding horse of 5 years at the time, an Arab stallion, and completed a 60km and 80km endurance ride. My horse died of severe colic and all my hopes went down the drain. At that stage, my horse and I had a unique bond, which was gone, and I had no motivation to start training a horse all over again.

In 1998, the Chairlady of the Endurance Club in the area nagged me to start riding again. Leon, with all the method, in his madness, agreed, but on one condition, we do not buy a horse, we use one of our other horses. The surprise was that we did not even have one Arab! The selected prospect was a 15-year-old stallion that thought he may be an Arab. Conformation and muscle strength we had, but the heart rate kept me on my knees for a season.

Geronimo had one thing that brought me to tears every time we finished an endurance ride and that was his positive attitude, besides the effort that he put into the ride. We ended the season with a 100 miler and her I made a decision that endurance was the sport for me. We retired Geronimo because of arthritis and he had happy days after that being a stud to Boerperd mares. An absolute gentleman, I used him in my therapeutic riding lessons.

With Leon's expert knowledge of horses and horsemanship, we chose a no name, no breed horse, from the Free State. Moya's first year was tough building him, we worked a lot of work on the trot, setting his gaits and giving rhythm. He was already 7 years old and we had to work on suppleness. His second season became challenging and I started with longer rides, from 50 milers to 75 milers.

My goal was to complete 1000km in one season forcing me to go slow and finish every ride. Leon and our oldest daughter started joining me in endurance riding and I was so happy to have training companions again.

Moya did his first 100 miler and finished third. In July he came 8th at the National Championships in the lightweight division. It was only there that I realized that my efforts hadn't gone unnoticed and that Moya was going from strength to strength, at that stage, having trouble free 1500 km on the clock, finishing every ride.

I had to select my longer rides this time and decided that the National 100 miler was too close to our National Championships in July. We selected the Namibian ride at Walvis Bay, which was for the first time held on the FEI vet gait system. This was a huge challenge, once again building my horse on different terrain - in the sand.

Moya has recently completed his second 100 miler finishing in second place and managed it in National time.

Leon's saddles were a great breakthrough in the endurance sport in South Africa and allowed us to start riding competitively on happy horses.

We hope it will go well in 2002 in Moya's third season. Building an endurance horse to last, takes a lot of time and effort. Thank you to my husband for his support and knowledge that he shares with us and to dear friends with whom I have spent a lot of kilometers together.

Moya's Story (continues) - Mariaan Liversage - 22 Oct 2003

The year 2002 started off very well when we completed 3 x 50 miler rides in National times. Arriving at the National Championships at Fauresmith, with me on the short list of the National Team and number one rider, Moya was not completely sound. This was a big disappointment but also a great relieve when I withdrew the day before the ride started. We now started a -Wild Goose- chase to gather what was wrong. X-rays showed a chip in his left front leg and we decided to operate and remove the chips seeing that he was valuable and had already done a lot of successful kilometers.

The resting period given by Onderstepoort was approximately 6 to 8 months. I started the season in 2003 with ups and downs with Moya only completing every second ride. In the meantime I started a younger brother of Moya named Sweep, which was showing to be a good prospect.

I knew that Moya was on a progressive road of recovery and we decided to take his brother to the National Championships. Two weeks before the Nationals, I rode Moya his own 200 km over 3 days equivalent to the National Championships. I prepared Moya for the National 100 miler in Hofmeyr and to my great surprise finished second and won the Best Conditioned Award.

I planned to only do a second 100 miler in November with Moya but I was elected as captain of the Development Team to represent South Africa at Lobatse in Botswana. On the 11th of October 1:30 in the morning I started the ride on Moya with great uncertainty. I had a loyalty to my team to finish the ride. The temperatures were fairly high and it was very humid. Of the 41 riders that started only 9 completed the 100 miler in very tough conditions. Moya won the ride in a time of 9:27.

Sweep has done 3 x 120km of which he won one 120km and two he came 2nd in. Of the three 120km rides he won two Best Conditioned Awards.

These achievements has made me number one rider in South Africa. With Sweep the first horse.

The World Championships:

January 21 2004, the flight left at 2:15, we all made ourselves comfortable in our seats, Ncamile was in awe to be so high in the air, and far from home (Hofmeyr), but via Van Duyn and Chris, speaking his language, Ncamile was calmed down and enjoyed the experience.

Arriving, we were all very tired but were welcomed by a well-organized system and treated like royalty. After a few hours' sleep, we went on Saturday to view the INTERNATIONAL ENDURANCE CITY and were also extremely anxious to see our -Australian- horses. We were overwhelmed with the brilliant organization by the Arabs hosting 41 countries, passports had to be collected and protocol sorted out before we could go to the quarantine area where the Nieu-Zealand and Australian horses were kept.

The horses were allocated and I got Bara Bark Cleveda, a huge Anglo Arab mare, I thought that if I fall, the sand would not be as hard as the homegrounds, Cleveda was huge where my Moya's 14.2hh made me quite anxious. The horses were checked and shod; unfortunately Pauline could not ride as her horse was cripple and did not pass the vet check. The team was announced, Corrie, Margaret and Chris, Ncamile rode individual, I was elected as Captain of the team.

The tension flared up at the stables, 27 Jan at 4:30 everyone was ready. I prayed for the team and realized that on this exceptional day, we were so small and so dependant on God for guidance. Leon had to hold Cleveda as she was like a full blown racing horse, ready to go, with or without me. I must admit, my ego would have been shattered if I had to fall off at the stables in front of all the hundreds of spectators and riders. Starting the ride, the tension subsided somewhat and Corrie's hearty laugh was an inspiration. Corrie's horse fell out on the first leg, Chris's horse fell out on the 5th leg and Cleveda (picture left) had a re-check on her trot. We stayed until the 3-rd re-check where we all fell out. Margaret and Ncamile were true horsemen and ended 55th with a time of 10:59 and 59th with a time of 11:33 out of 178 riders starting the ride. The winning time was 22.68 k/h time 7:03:22. Again a huge thank you to Janita and Van Duyn, Gerhard, Lizet, Alta and Fritz who supported until the end.

My two endurance companions - by Mariaan Liversage - 8 September 2004

After the Botswana ride, I realised that endurance had become a way of living to me. I had two great horses with fine characters and such a spirit for endurance. Christiana was the last hundred miler of the year and it was also Moya's final chance to prove himself well and on the track, qualifying for the world championships in Dubai on 27 January 2005. I was privileged to be accompanied by an experienced 100 mile friend who has shared a lot of endurance miles with me. He, at that time was riding the national 100 mile champion of his wife who had a hip injury. Moya finished second with the first horse crossing the finish line only a second before him. I at that time was fanatic to preserve him from any injury and a race for the first place could be fatal.

He once again proved his inner strength to also trotted out as the best conditioned and fittest horse, to my utmost surprise and tears were running down my cheeks once again, I was so grateful that he has recovered. January 2004 started when my daughter, now 13, decided to also ride with me. She then qualified Sweep for the S.A National Championships in June. I decided to also qualify Sweep for the world championships and did the 100 miler at Dullstroom. This ride was also organised by our local club but unfortunately had to withdraw on the 148km check. Fortunately this was just an accidental injury and Sweep was recovering in a short time. Moya won the next 100 miler at Fauresmith and I was now pleased to lay him down for the next season and just maintain him well for the world championships.

Sweep won his first 100 miler at Christiana, gracefully walking away with the best conditioned prize once again. These rides earned me points to the world ranking list ranking me 24th in the world to the end of 2004. Moya is ranked 6th with all his points calculated. Back in the pasture these two brothers are sole mates. Each with their own personalities, very different in their athletic abilities, I can not say in words how these two companions have enriched my life. Me and Moya are on our way to Namibia as part representing the SA team against Namibia over 130km in Walvis Bay. Sweep will be doing the National 100 miler at Hofmeyr where the S.A team for the world championships will be announced. Sweep came second in the children division with Lindi and also took best conditioned. In so much willingness to give so much my gratitude to these to horses just always giving their best.

Thanks to Leon for always supplying me saddles to fit the horses perfectly and making sure that I am comfortable.

• Page 1
• Page 2
• Page 3