Vera Valdivia-Abdallah, founder and director of a major Arabian horse rescue, has helped hundreds of animals recover from dire circumstances. When she learned about a herd of 53 Arabians in Oregon in need of help late in 2020, she mobilized immediately to bring the animals to her Love This Horse Equine Rescue, located about 100 miles north of Los Angeles.

The story of the Oregon horses was one she had heard a version of many times before in her nearly 15 years of equine rescue work: The horses’ owner had passed away, his family had no idea what to do with the animals—many of which had never been handled—and in desperation, they contacted a horse trader to “come and get them.”

“Other than a few older horses who were broke to ride, he never even halter-trained them,” Valdivia-Abdallah said. “The horse trader basically rounded them up and dispersed them to different auctions.”

Because they were mostly unhandled, the majority of the Oregon herd was at risk of being sold to dealers shipping to slaughter. Valdivia-Abdallah began attending regional auctions, looking for them specifically. 

One of the auctions the rescue operator attended had seven of the Oregon animals on its manifest. She didn’t have enough money to buy all of them that day, so when a private party stepped forward to purchase a gray 5-year-old from the group, she was happy to know the mare wasn’t going to a dealer.

“But the buyer had the assumption these horses were broke, and they weren’t,” she said.

The buyer tried to ride her new horse, only to learn that it had barely been handled, much less trained to ride. A week after the auction, the buyer gave the mare to the rescue, saying “she couldn’t do nothing with her.”

By the time Valdivia-Abdallah picked up the gray mare, she seemed severely traumatized. But the rescue operator wasn’t discouraged; she had helped many similar horses recover from a rough start and go on to loving homes and felt confident she could help this mare, too. With the input of her then-13-year-old daughter Erna Valdivia (an avid Taylor Swift fan), the new rescue mare was christened Love Story LTH, “Lovie” for short. 

Many of Love This Horse’s rescues end up as recreational trail horses or competitive endurance mounts, thanks to the Arabian breed’s natural affinity for these jobs. Lovie hadn’t been at the rescue for very long when Vera realized the horse was not just suitable for endurance, she seemed bred for it. And although the mare still had much to learn, Vera knew just the person to help her succeed: her good friend and endurance rider, Susannah Jones.

‘She Was Repulsed By People’

Jones first met Vera several years ago when she took on one of the rescue’s training projects; the two have remained good friends ever since. 

“Susannah is such a knowledgeable, amazing person,” Vera said. “There’s not many people I’d trust to just hand a horse over to, but whenever I’ve had a horse I’ve felt was a 50-miler, I would hand them to Susannah to ride, because I knew she would take amazing care of them.”

Just before Christmas in 2020, Vera told Jones that Lovie would be her next Tevis horse.

“But she didn’t tell me how wild the horse was,” Jones recalled with a laugh. 

The Western States Trail Ride, better known as the Tevis Cup, is a one-day, 100-mile endurance race. It starts in Lake Tahoe, California, and ends down in Auburn. The route crosses the rocky, rugged terrain of the Sierra Nevada mountains, over and through the Olympic Valley, and into the Granite Chief Wilderness area. Horses and riders must navigate narrow trails, skirt steep cliff edges, and traverse up and down rugged canyons—all in less than 24 hours, including mandatory rests. It is widely considered the toughest endurance ride in the world. 

Jones has completed Tevis four times.

“I didn’t really need another horse,” Jones said, “but I went down to see Lovie anyway.” 

On Feb. 14, 2021, Jones made the nearly eight-hour trip from her ranch in Rough and Ready, California, (a small town located one hour northeast of Sacramento) to pick up her new project. The first thing Lovie did upon arriving at Jones’ ranch was jump its five-foot fence—and Jones knew she would need to work to win the mare’s trust before any other training could begin.

“You couldn’t really get near her,” Jones recalled. “She was very bracey, and I just got the feeling she was really repulsed by people. So I spent a long time just studying her, letting her unravel and be herself. I didn’t put any pressure on her at all.”

As Lovie gradually began to trust Jones, she strengthened their bond with playful unmounted activities. But Jones says she “doesn’t start horses, she just gentles them,” so at the end of 2022, she sent Lovie out to a trainer for an introduction to ridden work. Almost immediately, the trainer sent Lovie back, pronouncing her a “dangerous horse.” 

After giving the mare a few months to recover from that experience, in March 2023, Jones sent Lovie to another friend, who proved to be a better match. Later that summer, Jones began taking Lovie on solo trail rides. She found the mare to be brave and forward-thinking, ideal qualities for endurance.

“She’s one of the bravest horses I’ve ever ridden, actually,” Jones said. 

As their bond and confidence in each other continued to grow, Jones began riding Lovie with other horses—and that was when the trouble began. 

“She’s fine most of the time, but every now and then, she’d throw in a buck,” said Jones, 70. “This horse has a buck like a rodeo horse. It’s a big, huge buck, then a twist like a corkscrew. If you get a few of those one after the other, you’re just not going to stay on.”

In October 2023, Jones came off Lovie during a bucking episode, resulting in an injury that would keep her out of the saddle for the next six months. 

“She was really upset, because she finally had Lovie in nice condition and was getting ready to start doing some endurance rides with her,” Vera said. “I told her to just bring Lovie back to the orphanage—those were my words—and we’d ride her at the [American Endurance Ride Conference] rides and get her record going. I told her, ‘Once you’re better, you’ll take her back.’ ”

But neither woman expected that Erna, now 17, would fall in love with the mare whom she had helped to name several years earlier—and that it would be her who would partner with Lovie to write Tevis history.

Erna + Lovie

When Lovie first returned to the rescue, Erna said she was a bit intimidated by both the opportunity and the mare herself.

“She is such a big horse, and Susannah had her for so long and put so much training into her,” Erna said. “I felt so much pressure, and I was a bit nervous in the beginning.”

Additionally, Erna knew Lovie could be “spicy” under saddle, especially when asked to do something she didn’t want to do.

“The first time I got on her, I acted like I’d never ridden a horse before,” Erna admitted with a laugh. “I was so scared. But then I got out of my head and started riding her like I do with the rescue horses and used that mindset. And that helped a lot.”

Erna completed her first endurance ride in 2018 on a horse named Daisy, when she was just 11 years old; she has grown to love the sport, always competing on horses saved by her mother’s rescue. 

“It’s so fun,” Erna said. “You are going to meet a lot of people, and go to different places and ride on different terrain. 

“It’s also a good way to expose the rescue horses to different people, and have people see our horses, too,” she continued. “Endurance rides give them exposure on trail and more experience under their belt.”

Even though Lovie challenged her teen rider at first, Erna knew their partnership was getting stronger when the mare became easier to catch out in the paddock—a persistent challenge throughout Lovie’s career.

Although the mare still occasionally displays “a little attitude” under saddle, she rarely bucks anymore. Erna said Lovie listens to her “most of the time”—and Erna has a special way of letting Lovie know when she has crossed the line.

“I call her Love Story when I’m trying to be firm with her,” Erna said. “When she doesn’t listen to me, or won’t let me catch her, I have to be straightforward and I say, ‘Love Story, knock it off.’ I call her Lovie when I’m trying to be nice and sweet.”

Lovie and Erna made their endurance debut at a 25-mile ride. After successfully completing several rides at that distance, her mother encouraged Erna to try a 50-mile ride. 

“The first 50 we did, it was by ourselves,” Erna said. “I was a little nervous, because I’d never ridden Love Story by myself before. But I trusted her, I listened to her, and she did so good.”

What Erna is too modest to say herself is that, in just over six months, she and Lovie earned eight ride completions in eight starts, at rides up to 75 miles long—a strong debut—and finished in the top 10 four times. So far, the pair has racked up over 300 miles in competition.

“She has only been on trail just over a year, and she’s still young,” Jones said of Lovie’s success. “For a rescue horse that was completely unhandled—I mean, you couldn’t touch this horse, couldn’t get near her—she has actually turned out very well.”

Tackling The Tevis Cup

Entering this year’s Tevis Cup wasn’t initially on Erna’s agenda; the idea was her mother’s, and at first, Erna wasn’t sure she and Lovie would be ready. 

“It took me a little while to get used to the idea of doing Tevis,” she said. “It had never really crossed my mind. But I warmed up to the idea because it sounded like fun. I decided it doesn’t hurt to try.”

In June, Lovie and Erna participated in the two-day Tevis Educational Ride, a mentored opportunity designed to help potential Tevis competitors better understand horse management strategies, trail tips, and conditions unique to this specific event.

Tackling the Tevis Cup is a huge challenge for any endurance rider. But Erna’s decision to enter also came with the pressure of making Tevis history: Just by crossing the starting line, she would become the first female African-American rider to ever compete there. Fortunately, she would not be doing it alone.

“Susannah and Erna have a really close bond,” Vera said. “When Susannah was injured, she was worried she wouldn’t be able to recover. I kept saying, ‘Poppycock; you’ll be doing Tevis this year.’ Then Erna did so well with Lovie, and we started saying, ‘Let’s do Tevis.’ That really spurred Susannah on to get back in the saddle, because she wanted to help Erna.”

Jones became Erna’s official ride sponsor (a Tevis Cup requirement for all riders under 18), mounted on her previous Tevis partner, Eli Jones.

As the ride day approached, Erna could feel her excitement building—but she was also a bit nervous for the 5:15 a.m. start, when all 139 horses would head out on trail together. Knowing Lovie’s independent streak and the fact that she still sometimes found large crowds of horses exciting, Erna and Jones decided they would try to stick close to one another and pass horses until they found a space of their own.

“All the horses knew exactly what was going on at the starting line—and Love Story, she was confused, she was excited, she had all the emotions,” Erna recalled. “It was fun, and I was excited, but my stomach would not relax. I was a little shaky; I’m surprised I stayed on the horse!

“But after a few miles, I was like, ‘Just relax, you’re fine,’ ” she continued. “As I relaxed myself, Love Story relaxed too, like it was just another ride. I talk to Love Story a lot, and she was a little nervous to pass the other horses. I had to push her through and say, ‘Come on, Love Story.’ As long as I stayed calm and confident, she was fine. I love that horse. She is so good.”

As mile after mile of trail passed by, Erna and Jones stuck to their original plan: stay together, monitor their horses, and make good choices. But Jones says conditions on the Tevis trail this year were the worst she has ever experienced, making an extremely difficult ride nearly impossible.

“I’ve never ridden a Tevis like this,” Jones said. “The heat, the dust, and there were some various other things that happened on trail—it was such a very, very bad day.”

Erna and Jones made it to the 68-mile mark and the mandatory hold at Foresthill; both of their mounts passed the vet check to continue on the ride. But after being in near constant motion for 17 hours, the riders withdrew from the race at 9:36 p.m.

“We decided we would quit while were ahead and not risk any kind of problem,” Jones said. “We did a fantastic day, and we feel very proud of Love Story. To go from untested to the Tevis Cup in one year, it’s just out of this world.”

Erna admitted she had envisioned what it would feel like to cross the finish line and was a little disappointed to end the ride early. But then she looked at Lovie and saw how tired the mare was and knew it was the right decision.

“As soon as we walked back to the trailer, she was eating and munching and all happy,” Erna said. “She knew we were done.”

Repping The Rescues

Erna isn’t certain if a return to Tevis in 2025 will be on her calendar, but she is looking forward to continuing to build on the experience she and Lovie have gained this season and add more endurance miles to their record.

“I’m glad we have Love Story. She needed a lot of rehabbing, mentally,” Jones said. “With a rescue horse, it’s a different emotional experience altogether. It’s more of a challenge but also more rewarding. I think you build a better relationship with them, because you have to really understand them.

“My goal on this Tevis was to support Vera and her rescue, and try to get Love Story along in that ride as best we could,” she continued. “I really want to show that horses that have been thrown away—if people would just spend a bit of time, and take that horse and give it a chance—you can put right the things other people have wrecked in a horse. You’ll be in love with your horse for life.”

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Do you know a horse or pony who has been rescued from a dangerous situation to become a healthy, trusted competition partner today? If you think you have a good candidate for “From Rescue To Ribbons,” let us know by emailing mwright@coth.com.