An excessive distance jockey has been left deserted in Mongolia after falling violently sick simply days earlier than she was set to compete on the planet’s hardest horse race.
Dede Anders, 49, was excited to compete within the nine-day-long 2024 Mongol Derby, however on Monday she began feeling sick – and knew she wouldn’t be capable to endure the 620-mile trek throughout the Mongolian Steppe.
However when she expressed her issues to medical employees on the derby, Anders stated she was dismissed and instructed to ‘journey it out,’ she instructed Cowboy State Day by day.
When she once more argued that she was not feeling nicely sufficient to journey a ‘semi-feral’ Mongolian horse for days on finish, occasion organizers booked her a cab again to the capital metropolis of Ulaanbaatar – however didn’t get her a resort room or guide a flight again to america, leaving it as much as her to search out her manner residence.
Dede Anders, 49, has been left stranded in Mongolia after she grew to become too sick to compete within the 2024 Mongol Derby
Anders, of Wyoming, stated she was wanting ahead to the derby.
She instructed the Powell Tribune how she would soar on feral horses as a baby, and have become a barrel racer and staff roper when she grew to become sufficiently old.
‘I have been using my entire life,’ she stated. ‘I grew up on somewhat ranch in Greybull, and I journey nearly on daily basis once I’m residence.’
So when she discovered of the Mongol Derby – a notoriously treacherous race based in 2009 – she thought it was a dream come true.
‘Each little lady reads books about Mongolian horses, Black Magnificence, all these issues,’ she stated.
‘I had been horse endurance races, so I threw my hat in.’
She stated she had been wanting ahead to the 620-mile race, and thought she was prepared for the endurance contest
She stuffed out a questionnaire for The Equestrianists, the group that places on the Mongol Derby, and submitted movies of her using.
For a number of months, she stated she didn’t hear something again from the group – and began to lose hope.
‘In October of final 12 months, I noticed an article in one other journal concerning the derby and was so mad I did not even need to learn it, however that night time I obtained referred to as,’ Anders recounted.
Race organizers instructed her on the time that she was on the waitlist for the 2025 Mongol Derby, however when one other rider dropped out of this 12 months’s contest just a few months in the past, Anders was capable of take their spot.
‘I is likely to be loopy, however I am prepared,’ she instructed Cowboy State Day by day final month.
She determined she would journey to gather cash for Wyo Hoofbeats Equine Assisted Studying, a nonprofit that provides equine-assisted studying and psychotherapy applications for the aged, at-risk children and households and people going through psychological well being struggles.
However she stated her first purpose can be to complete the harmful race.
‘I’ve brothers who will heckle me if I do not end, in order that’s one other motivating issue,’ she stated.
Anders arrived in Mongolia’s capitol metropolis of Ulaanbaatar on August 1, however began to really feel sick on Monday
After months of preparation, Anders arrived in Mongolia’s capitol metropolis of Ulaanbaatar on August 1, and was dropped at the derby’s place to begin eight hours away with different riders.
She then began feeling sick on Monday.
‘It is loads of gastrointestinal stuff,’ Anders stated. ‘I used to be throwing up and stuff like that.’
Two medics on the base camp then examined her.
‘They instructed me I wanted nothing, however did nothing for me,’ Anders stated. ‘They instructed me to journey it out.
‘One of many medics did not even contact me or ask me any questions,’ she continued.
‘The opposite one took my pulse for a few seconds. They did not take my vitals, did not ask if I used to be diabetic or what drugs I used to be taking,’ stated Anders, who’s a former medic within the US Military with a doctorate in medical science and emergency medication from Lincoln Memorial College in Tennessee.
‘All they instructed me was it might cross in 24 hours.’
However Anders realized that though she was not thought of ‘critically sick’ she was not nicely sufficient to endure the trek.
She stated she spoke about her issues with the race director, Katherine.
‘Katherine got here to my yurt and talked to me a minimum of twice. I instructed her I used to be sick each days,’ Anders recounted.
Riders trek via the Mongolian Steppe on ‘semi-feral’ horses within the nine-day race
Finally, race administrators summoned a driver to take her again to Ulaanbaatar – however didn’t guide her a resort or a flight again to the US.
‘They put me in a car for eight hours sick with a GI bug, with a driver who barely spoke English,’ Anders lamented.
‘I had to make use of Expedia from base camp to guide a resort, had the motive force cease within the metropolis and get my passport so I may lastly verify right into a resort.’
She now says she needs the derby organizers did extra.
‘I used to be too sick to get on a horse for 620 miles. However I used to be additionally too sick to get in a automotive for eight hours and be dumped off right into a metropolis with out a passport or a flight residence.’
Anders famous that she has since reached out to occasion organizers, however has not obtained a response.
‘Now I am caught right here and so they could not give a c***,’ she stated, noting the primary flight she may catch doesn’t depart till Sunday – and can solely get her so far as Seattle, Washington.
‘I simply need to get again to the US,’ she stated.
Anders described the expertise as ‘sort of a multitude’ and ‘not very organized’
However she can also be hoping she might be reimbursed for the journey and entry prices.
‘I paid round $30,000 to go over for this factor,’ Anders stated. ‘My entry price alone was nearly $17,000 – and I did not even get my blood stress taken once I was sick.’
In all, Anders says the expertise she had been wanting ahead to has been ‘sort of a multitude’ and ‘not very organized.’
‘I get up at 1.30 within the morning to throw up within the Mongolian Steppe, and I hear Miley Cyrus’s Celebration within the USA blasting and all people’s drunk,’ she recounted to Cowboy State Day by day.
‘I instructed the race director that if I wished to be uncovered to Miley Cyrus blasted at 1:30 within the morning, I’d have gone to any trailer park in Wyoming.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to The Equestrianists for remark.
