USA: Riders reach the halfway point

A farrier works on a horse Saturday at the Dodge City Roundup Rodeo grounds. Participants in the Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race Endurance Ride stopped in Dodge City for a weekend stay. RICK DRUSE/DAILY GLOBE

For Joe Reilly, one of the most enjoyable moments of the Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race Endurance Ride came when he rode out of Santa Fe, N.M., the first day and saw the spectacular scenery around him.

Joyce Adams also raved about the scenery in Santa Fe. But for her, the most memorable part of that day was just finishing the race.

"I took a flatlander horse from western Kansas, and I took it up to the mountains and we completed it right in the middle of the pack," she said in an interview Saturday. "I wanted to say, 'Look at us! Look what we did!'". Reilly is an experienced endurance rider, while Adams is a novice. Both of them are competing in the first-ever Santa Fe Trail Horse Race, which began Sept. 3 in Santa Fe and will end 13 days later in Independence, Mo.

The race route mirrors the old Santa Fe Trail, with overnight stops in several communities along the way.

The riders took a weekend break at Roundup Arena in Dodge City, then saddled up early Sunday morning and hit the trail again.

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