PEORIA, Ill. – A Dunlap woman is looking for your support as she is about to embark on a journey to South America to take part in what’s called “the greatest test of horsemanship and wilderness skills on earth.”
Laurie Kaplan will leave Tuesday for Patagonia, Argentina, on the tip of South America, for an eight day horse ride called the “Gaucho Derby” – using multiple horses and traveling on multiple types of terrain.
“Because it’s so long, you don’t want to ride one horse the whole time,” said Kaplan. “We ride the Gaucho’s horses – the cowboys down there – and we use their land. So, every three days or so we get a new horse to ride.”
Kaplan tells WMBD’s Greg and Dan it’s tough on human and horse alike.
“We ride from eight in the morning to six at night,” said Kaplan. “There will be places we’ll need to walk, where (the terrain is) that rough. We’ll need to get off and walk the horse. (We need to do) stretching, lots of stretching. We do ride into horse stations when we switch horses. There’s also vet checks every day.”
Otherwise, Kaplan says, she can only have 22 pounds worth of camping gear and food she can take for the entirety of the competition.
A number of other Americans will take part in the ride that does have a finish line.
Kaplan – an accomplished equestrian – says she’s doing it for a number of veterans groups, one of which is called “Horses and Heroes”. They help veterans with PTSD.
She has set up a GoFundMe page where she’s hoping to raise more than $16,000.
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