By Heidi Dahms Foster
In 1991, Phoenix horse lover Kim Abbott met and fell in love with a friend’s Arabian horse, Fire Ari, and the rest of the story is endurance riding history that is still playing out today.
Abbott won the grueling Dewey Man Against Horse 50-mile race over Mingus Mountain for the fourth time this past October on one of Fire’s daughters, Justa Strike of Fire, nicknamed “Goat,” because when she whinnied, she sounded like a goat.
Fire, eight years old at the time Abbott purchased him, had quite the reputation. He had been mistreated as a youngster, and had put a couple of people in the hospital. “He was a friend’s stallion and they were scared of him. I fell in love with him, and I had to have him,” Abbott said.
She purchased Fire, but the friend made her sign a paper that said she wouldn’t sue him if Fire killed her. She brought the handsome red stallion home and began the long road to winning his trust.
“I would carry a pocketful of carrots. I’d pull his head around, and give him a carrot. I’d put my foot in the stirrup, and give him a carrot. I’d sit on him and give him a carrot. He got to trust me handling and taking care of him. I wouldn’t let anyone else ride him. He had a big personality. You couldn’t bully him,” she said.
Kim rode Fire in horse shows and parades, and then became interested in endurance riding. She got a late start as Fire was already older when she purchased him. But that didn’t stop the duo. He was 15 when she rode him in the Wickenburg Land of the Sun ride in 1998, her first 50-miler. She was hooked.
One of her friends then talked her into riding the Tevis, the mother of all endurance rides. The 24-hour ride covers 100 miles of the roughest country imaginable, from the Lake Tahoe area to Auburn, California. Fully 50 percent of the riders who enter Tevis do not finish.
“I had barely ridden 50 miles, much less 100!” Abbott said. But she’s a tough, athletic horsewoman, and she and Fire took on the challenge in just their second-ever endurance ride.
Horse and rider teams must finish the contest in 24 hours. Abbott and Fire came in dead last with just 15 minutes to spare. But they finished, a great accomplishment in itself. Abbott would ride the Tevis a total of six times, finishing five of them, the last one on Fire’s daughter, Firrari.
After Tevis, Abbott entered her first Man Against Horse, held in memory of its founder, Gheral Brownlow, a runner who died after a battle with cancer. She has run the race most years since, and has won it four times.
The rigorous course, designed only for experienced, well-trained runners, horses and their riders, begins at an elevation of 5,200 feet in Dewey at the base of Mingus Mountain, and climbs to the top at 7,700 feet before dropping back down to the finish line.
Weather can be brutally hot or cold, and rain, sleet, hail, snow and wind are all possible. Depending on the summer monsoons, the trail can be full of hazards. Abbott and her horses have also beat the human runner every year except when Hopi runner, the late Dennis Poolheco, dominated the race for several years.
Abbott’s wins and respectable finishes in the race are laudable, but it’s her spirit and care for the other riders and horses that stand out.
One year, her friend was coming down the switchbacks and her horse tripped, fell, rolled over her and broke her pelvis. She had to be flown off the mountain. Putting her own race time aside, Abbott ponied her friend’s horse to the finish line, making sure she got down the mountain safely.
In the 2022 Tevis Cup, Abbott’s friend Susie Kramer, a seasoned endurance rider, lost her beloved horse Steel when she was leading him along a rough section of trail. Steel slipped and fell off the trail, and was later found deceased.
Kramer rode the Man Against Horse this year on her horse Jesse, and Abbott rode with her along a couple of spots along the trail edge to ease her worries.
Abbott is also known for her care for her horses, often winning the Best Condition Award in races she runs. This award is sometimes more coveted than the first-place trophy because it defines a rider’s character in putting their horse’s wellbeing before the win.
Abbott can’t say enough good about her Fire daughter Goat, one of the four Fire offspring she has bred, kept and ridden. She’s an endurance rider’s dream. Abbott let other riders use her while she was competing with her horse Sea Spot Run, on which she also won the Man Against Horse.
“Goat is so forward. She has a huge heart. She is very efficient in the way she moves and travels, and she takes cares of herself, eating and drinking well. She’s a 100-mile horse but I’m not a 100-mile girl anymore!”
She may not want to ride the 100-mile trails anymore, but Abbott, a longtime realtor who specializes in horse properties, and a restaurant owner, works hard to stay in shape. She takes spin classes, and works out on a Peloton five days a week. She also works with a trainer and hikes. “I have to keep myself fit,” she said. “If you rest, you rust!”
Susie Kramer and Steel had won the 2021 Man Against Horse and earned the top condition award. In 2022, in remembrance and recognition of Steel, race managers Ron and Stacy Barrett, along with James Bonnett, created the “Steel Cup,” a perpetual trophy that will display the name of the Best Conditioned Horse for the 50-mile distance.
Fittingly, Kramer’s friend Kim Abbott on Goat won the race, and the Best Condition trophy.
Find more information on the Man Against Horse Race at https://managainsthorse.net/
