Back in the saddle: Tevis Cup royalty Hall returns for another ride

Hal Hall has nothing left to prove in the world of endurance riding. The Auburn native has earned 30 buckles in 38 Tevis Cup rides, which complements his three championships and 14 top-10 finishes nicely. Hall earned his last buckle in 2013, which was also the last time he competed in the world-famous endurance ride. Hall has spent the last eight years crewing for his wife, Ann, who finished ninth last year. This year, Hall will ride again. "I still have a little burning desire to do this," he says. "I missed the trail, and the focus has always been for me on the adventure on the trail. I missed that part. Missed the camaraderie with the competitors and the bonding aspects in the relationship being developed with your horse." Considering Hall's accomplishments, one might think riding 100 miles on horseback comes to him as naturally as riding a bike. Believe it or not, Hall is still nervous entering the ride, even with his storied history. "Part of it is a new horse. He's never gone this distance before. This will be his first try," Hall explained. "There's always a little nervousness when you have a rookie and two, I've been away from it for eight years, so I think I'm a little nervous. But you know, the thing about it all is when you get up onto the saddle, all those apprehensions, all those fears, all the butterflies and the nervousness really kind of go away." Hall will be on the back of an Arabian named Direct and believes he will be ready to compete on race day. Hall and Direct have been training together for three years, and he feels his horse is ready for the challenge. "Having selected those horses over the years, I kind of know what to look for and hope that the one that I'm riding the following weekend will come about in the same fashion," Hall said, noting the approach in training a rookie horse is the same as that of a veteran. Though Direct hasn't seen a portion of the high-country part of the race before, Hall feels he is still ready to compete in the thin air. The duo spent the summer of 2020 training in Idaho during the quarantine to prepare Direct for the highlands of the Sierra Nevada. Hall isn't going into the race with any expectations of a 31st belt buckle or 15th top-10 finish. He just wants to go with the flow and have his horse put on a good show. "I don't have great expectations. In fact, I don't foresee finishing in the top 10," Hall said. "For example, it's a competitive field. I know many of the competitors and they've been working hard for years. (Direct) is just a rookie in it. He's really ready. I'm ready. I've got my sea legs back underneath me, and that's taken a while to do. So we'll just go with the flow."