Elmer Bandit, Mary Anna Wood’s 37-year-old registered Half-Arabian gelding, is within 290 miles of the North American Trail Ride Conference (NATRC) world record of 20,710 miles and still going strong. He has already completed two trail rides this year and Wood has plans for more. In a typical year, the pair will enter 10 to 12 competitive rides that cover approximately 60 miles.

Wood, of Independence, MO, bred Elmer Bandit, whose sire was the Arabian DIS Jameel Junaid, out of Dandy Lain, an appendix registered American Quarter Horse. She began competing with him in 1976 and, since that time, Elmer Bandit has won 26 national championship awards in competitive trail riding and was the first horse inducted into the NATRC Hall of Fame, as well as the Kentucky Horse Park Hall of Fame.

Although Elmer Bandit can trot out at 12 mph and sustain a 6 to 8 mph pace, competitive riding is not a speed event. The horse and rider must complete a marked trail within a specified time period, but judges evaluate them along the way and deduct points for faults in categories such as horsemanship, trail manners and conditioning.

While the life expectancy of the average horse is between 25 and 30 years of age, Arabians seem to be hardier than most breeds. Elmer Bandit has a bit of arthritis in his hips, but he has never suffered from any serious health problems and Wood plans to continue riding him as long as he continues to enjoy the trip.