For Lorie Duff, horses have always been a way of life, taking her from the dairy farm in Topsail where she grew up, to Ottawa, and soon, to Mongolia where she will compete in the Gobi Desert Cup.
Duff started riding at Avalon Equestrian Centre and would go out with her friends on the weekends for trail rides. She went on to be the representative for Newfoundland and Labrador at Equestrian Canada, and now owns Liberty Lane Farm in the nation’s capital, where she teaches Liberty training and horsemanship.
Liberty Lane Farm was named for a construction project she had done in with her father in Newfoundland.
Duff’s relationship with equestrianism changed dramatically in 2014 when she awoke to find the right side of her body paralyzed. After having emergency neck surgery due to degenerating discs, Duff spent one and a half years recovering. During this time, she started looking at horsemanship in a different light.
She began doing more work on base foundation and liberty training, where horses are unrestrained by saddles and bridles and the emphasis is on building trust between human and horse. She has also been spending more time lecturing and speaking about her philosophies on how horsemanship can translate into other aspects of our lives.
Duff is currently preparing for the Road to the Horse colt starting competition in Lexington, Kentucky in March 2019. If she is accepted, she will be the first Canadian woman to compete in the world championship event.
While at the Equus Film Festival in New York City in November, with the premier of her short documentary, “Humble and Kind,” she met someone who told her that the Gobi Desert Cup was looking for Canadian representatives.
The Gobi Desert Cup, running from Aug. 22-31, is a 480-km endurance horse race over six days, from Ulaan Bataar to Dalanzadgad in Mongolia, the fifth coldest desert in the world. Riders will travel 80 km a day for six days, with a different horse each day.
“The horses come first,” says Duff.
Riders will be riding Mongolian horses specifically bred and trained for endurance, and will check in with sanctioned veterinarians every 40 km to ensure their health and safety.
Horses play a large role in Mongolian culture and some 150 were selected to be used by riders representing 12 different countries.
Duff’s mother always told her, “If you’re going to do it, do it with love,” and she has applied this philosophy to the Gobi Desert Cup.
Last year, Duff’s daughter, Callie, was diagnosed with a skin disease. She started chemotherapy in January at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and the prognosis is positive. As part of her journey in Mongolia, Duff is collecting pledges for the CHEO Foundation for every kilometre she rides.
“It’s going to test every inch of who I am as a person, not just my horsemanship,” says Duff.
She says she has a lot of healthy fear going into the race, but loves that she is getting the chance to participate.
In preparation, Duff has been walking 10-12 km a day and Equestrian Canada has put her in touch with endurance racers who are helping her to strategize for the best way to complete the race, both for herself and the horses.
“Every day I will have a new horse,” says Duff. This means she will need to establish a new relationship each day.
She is looking forward to meeting the riders from other countries and getting to experience working with the limitations set by the amount of time she will get to spend with each of the six horses.
In order to participate in the race, Duff needs to raise $15,000. She is doing so through sponsorships and personal donations. One of her sponsors is Spring Meadow Farm in Springdale, an equestrian, dairy and agriculture operation. She’s happy to be getting support from Newfoundland.
Duff will be giving a horse clinic at Country Times Equine in Glovertown this coming weekend where she will work on horsemanship and liberty work with 14 participants who have travelled from across the province.
Duff’s journey in Mongolia will be filmed at part of a larger documentary being made from her short film.
“It always all finds a way to lead me back home to Newfoundland,” says Duff about everything in her life.
For more information about her work, and her fundraising efforts, visit www.libertylanefarm.net.
Read more by this reporter here.
