I Quit Four Times. Khaleesi Never Did. — Old Dominion 100mi Equine Endurance Race 2026

I went to the Old Dominion 100 Mile National Championship asking one question: was Khaleesi ready? I had the wrong question. I’m Jaime with Hope Horsemanship — where we start with the mind and the body will follow. This is the story of the hardest ride of my life. A 100 mile single day endurance race through the remote mountains of Virginia and West Virginia. 23 riders started. 15 would finish. And I tried to quit four times before we crossed that finish line. This is a 53 minute documentary style video spanning the full 24 hours of race day — because some stories don’t fit in ten minutes. Here’s what happened. We were doing well through the first 30 miles. Then Khaleesi buckled on some rocks in a muddy creek bed and went down on her front legs. I somersaulted over her head into the rocks. Helmet saved me. We got up. We kept going. Alone in the heat of the afternoon, sore and tired, I quit for the first time somewhere on the trail to Bucktail. Just get to the checkpoint and you can stop. You have nothing to prove. My crew duct-taped me back onto the horse and waved me onward. The fourth segment — 24 miles before reconnecting with crew — broke me again. The last riders passed us. Khaleesi was barely moving. I had already decided we were done. That’s when I insisted we give everything we had left just to get to the next checkpoint. Then they held her vet card. Questionable steps. Possible lameness. I gave up again — almost relieved. This is it. We’re done. Miraculously she was cleared to go. Quit number four came just before 1am with 19 miles left. My husband — walking on two injured ankles, who had been there every checkpoint all day — pulled me aside: “You did not come all this way and put all this time into building this horse and bring us all out here to quit now. Get on that horse. We’ll see you at Bird Haven.” So I got on the horse. And we went back out into the dark. We crossed the finish line at 5:15am with the sun coming up over the horizon. 10th place. Khaleesi vetted immediately with great scores and no questions. I went in asking if my horse was ready. What I found out is that she never once asked to stop. Not once. It was me — four times — who wanted to quit. She carried me home. My crew carried me home. And I am still, days later, trying to fully understand what I witnessed from a mare I have spent years building a real relationship with. This is what connection looks like when it actually matters. We crossed the finish line at 5:15am with the sun coming up over the horizon. 10th place. Khaleesi vetted immediately with great scores and no questions. I went in asking if my horse was ready. What I found out is that she never once asked to stop. Not once. It was me — four times — who wanted to quit. She carried me home. My crew carried me home. And I am still, days later, trying to fully understand what I witnessed from a mare I have spent years building a real relationship with. This is what connection looks like when it actually matters. This is likely the last 100 mile race I’ll ask of Khaleesi. Next year she earns us the official Decade Team Award — ten years of sound, healthy competition. I couldn’t be more proud of her. A huge thank you to my crew, to Hanna Bartnick and Aspen for the company in the dark hours, and to everyone who has followed this journey. 📧 [email protected] 🐴 Hope Horsemanship Connect — our virtual community Start with the mind and the body will follow. Music from #InAudio: https://inaudio.org/infraction-dark western Music from #InAudio: https://inaudio.org/infraction-Alright Music from #InAudio: https://inaudio.org/infraction-Night Fight Music from #InAudio: https://inaudio.org/infraction-Part of Life Music from #InAudio: https://inaudio.org/MokkaMusic - Bright Kickoff Music from #InAudio: https://inaudio.org/Mokka- Journey Music from #InAudio: https://inaudio.org/Cold Cinema- Unforgiven Music from #InAudio: https://inaudio.org/Cold Cinema- Defender