Ride 'em, Cowgirl!

There are many women in the Bay Area who have embraced the wonderful world of horses. Carol Sincerny is one of them. 

Some people gravitate to rodeo events like barrel racing. Some want to compete in the show ring. Some people buy and sell horses to move up to the next level of horse.  

Carol is a gal who has gone with the flow with both of her horses, modifying her goals to fit her horses’ abilities, health and needs. The commitment she has made to both horses is a life commitment.

Carol bought her first horse, a grey Arabian named Medallion, in 1993. She had grown up and attended college on the East Coast and moved to the Bay Area after she married. She and her husband, Peter, settled here and raised their family, which consisted of three children, doggies, and eventually two horses.

Medallion, who was 13 when Carol bought him, was a show horse. Carol’s daughter Erin, who began riding at the age of 7, showed Medallion in 4-H shows as well as riding him in the Rowell Ranch Rodeo Parade.

Carol has owned her other gelding, Sparky, (also a grey Arabian) since he was a yearling.  He is now 16. Her daughter Erin grew up and  went off to college. Carol then had two horses. Medallion, now 30, is retired and lives on private property close to Carol’s house. Sparky, now 16,  resides at Basso’s in Livermore. Carol has done a little bit of everything with him—trail riding, cow sorting and some preliminary endurance rides. 

Trail rides are done purely for pleasure. Endurance rides, on the other hand, are a competitive sport that requires careful training and conditioning for both the rider and the horse. 

The ultimate endurance ride in California is the Tevis, a 100-mile, one-day ride that begins by Lake Tahoe and culminates in Auburn. It is said that the Tevis has about 19,000 feet of up and about 22,000 feet of down. It is a grueling ride with many vet checkpoints along the way; horses are eliminated if they do not pass the vet check. Although many breeds do compete in the Tevis and other endurance races, the Arabian is known as the quintessential endurance horse--the energizer bunny of the horse world, if you will.

Endurance riding appealed to Carol. Unforotunately, after she had done one 25-mile-limited-distance ride,  Sparky became injured.  The rehabilitation has been slow, and although Sparky is now feeling just fine, Carol has decided not to risk further injury by competing in endurance rides with him.

He has become her pleasure trail-riding, cow-sorting horse. She may eventually get another horse for longer endurance rides, but for now—two horses are just fine.