3 Questions

For the third year in a row, HIPICO is lettin' the dogs out for their annual Dachshund Races to benefit the New Mexico Center for Therapeutic riding (4 pm Saturday Aug. 5 and 3 pm Saturday Aug. 12. $10. Santa Fe Horse Park, 100 S Polo Drive, 474-0999) which coincide with two weekends of equine fun at their facilities. Geri Eigenberger, volunteer dachshund race manager, tells SFR about the quirky, little-known race and other family events coming up at the equine-centric facility over the next few weeks. And it's open to the public, so get that wiener dog running!

How did the dachshund races with HIPICO begin?
A lot of the riders that are a part of HIPICO have dachshunds, for whatever reason. So three years ago when they started the horse jumping, people already had their dogs there watching, so I think it just turned into a fun thing for them to do.

Is there a particular race that stands out in your mind?
We have this one dachshund named Bilbo that just really takes to it—he's won two years in a row! So this year, we're doing it a little different; we're doing it every weekend while in past years we've only done one event. We're hoping that with four weekends in a row, we can get more of the public out there and introduce the public to the facilities and get a new winner.

Aside from the dachshund races, what other kinds of events are going on at that weekend?
The whole facility is just so fantastic. There's horse jumping and all kinds of other events since it's a circuit competition. The horse events are free, so you can go out for the next two weekends and watch the horse-jumping and this grand prix event on Sunday. We also have a second small dog race because there are so many small dog breeds there, as well watching the horse jumping. There's food trucks out there, equine vendors—there's even a cash bar.

Santa Fe Reporter