Crewing for endurance riders requires strategy, feel, planning - but it's rewarding and fun

To win the Tevis Cup, picking a quality horse is only half the battle. Not only does the rider need a sturdy steed to come out on top in the 100-mile event, a proper crew is needed as well. Crewing for an endurance rider is much like being a member of a NASCAR pit crew. Crew members have a limited amount of time to get the horse and rider everything they need to get back on the trail. "There's a lot of strategy to it," said Kelsey Mayo, who has been crewing at Tevis since 2017. "You've got to set up the buckets, get it figured out when to pull the tag, make sure your rider's happy, make sure your horse is happy. It can be a lot." One of the biggest challenges is how to tend to the horses. Since horses can't speak, crew members have to do their best to infer what it is needed. "You kind of have to just go by what you feel," Mayo said. "You have to ask yourself, 'Is it grain he wants? Is it food he wants? Why is he not eating? Why is he not drinking?' It's a lot of thinking on your feet. If your horse isn't happy, your rider is not happy. And it just escalates from there." "It takes a lot of planning to deal with cooling the horses," said Linda Powell, who has crewed since 2019. "We plan where we place our buckets and plastic bottles full of water that we can hand right to the riders that are coming in so they could start cooling the horse on the front shoulders. From there, basically it's time to take care of the horse and take care of the rider." For some, crewing is more than volunteering; it can tie into their careers as well. That's the case for Dawa Fitzmaurice, a crew member for 30-time buckle winner Hal Hall. She also works for Blissful Equine, a program that uses holistic techniques to keep horses healthy. Fitzmaurice said the most rewarding part about crewing is seeing the horses she works on in competition. "It's just fun being out here and people are always having a great time. It's great to see my work in action," Fitzmaurice said. "I love working for the Halls because they're just fun, and they're enthusiastic. I always feel that they respect me as a worker, and it's an honor to work for them and to see them succeed. I don't feel pressure. It's just enthusiasm with them." Fitzmaurice said the key to crewing is to stay positive throughout the long day. "It's all about the attitude you bring to it, and the attitude that I've intentionally brought to it is that I'm here to have fun and to be the best service I can," she said. Perhaps the most important job at Tevis falls on the shoulders of Mike Peralez, DVM. Peralez is the head veterinarian of the ride, and it's his job to make sure the horses are safe and fit to continue. "My role in the ride is to actually gather veterinarians from around the country that are experts in the sport of endurance and we oversee and make sure the horses are healthy, make sure everybody finishes well, and we just want to make sure the horses have a great day on the trail," Peralez said. Peralez and his team faced a challenge Saturday with the heat. Triple-digit temperatures plagued the region, as the veterinary team had to take extra measures to make sure horses and riders were safe. "The horses undergo very strict veterinary checks throughout the day," Peralez said. "There are 10 different exams performed on them throughout the ride, and they must meet very stringent criteria to continue down the trail." More than half of the horses that began the journey to Auburn didn't finish, as 72 of the 131 entrants were pulled for various reasons throughout the race.