An extreme distance jockey has been left stranded in Mongolia after falling violently ill just days before she was set to compete in the world’s toughest horse race.

Dede Anders, 49, was excited to compete in the nine-day-long 2024 Mongol Derby, but on Monday she started feeling sick – and knew she would not be able to endure the 620-mile trek across the Mongolian Steppe.

But when she expressed her concerns to medical staff at the derby, Anders claimed she was brushed off and told to ‘ride it out,’ she told Cowboy State Daily.

When she again argued that she was not feeling well enough to ride a ‘semi-feral’ Mongolian horse for days on end, event organizers booked her a cab back to the capital city of Ulaanbaatar – but did not get her a hotel room or book a flight back to the United States, leaving it up to her to find her way home.

Anders, of Wyoming, said she was looking forward to the derby.

She told the Powell Tribune how she would jump on feral horses as a child, and became a barrel racer and team roper when she became old enough.

‘I’ve been riding my whole life,’ she said. ‘I grew up on a little ranch in Greybull, and I ride almost every day when I’m home.’ 

So when she learned of the Mongol Derby – a notoriously treacherous race founded in 2009 – she thought it was a dream come true.

‘Every little girl reads books about Mongolian horses, Black Beauty, all those things,’ she said. 

‘I had been looking at horse endurance races, so I threw my hat in.’

She filled out a questionnaire for The Equestrianists, the organization that puts on the Mongol Derby, and submitted videos of her riding. 

For several months, she said she did not hear anything back from the group – and started to lose hope.

‘In October of last year, I saw an article in another magazine about the derby and was so mad I didn’t even want to read it, but that night I got called,’ Anders recounted.

Race organizers told her at the time that she was on the waitlist for the 2025 Mongol Derby, but when another rider dropped out of this year’s contest a few months ago, Anders was able to take their spot.

‘I might be crazy, but I’m ready,’ she told Cowboy State Daily last month. 

She decided she would ride to collect money for Wyo Hoofbeats Equine Assisted Learning, a nonprofit that offers equine-assisted learning and psychotherapy programs for the elderly, at-risk kids and families and individuals facing mental health struggles.

But she said her first goal would be to finish the dangerous race.

‘I have brothers who will heckle me if I don’t finish, so that’s another motivating factor,’ she said.

After months of preparation, Anders arrived in Mongolia’s capitol city of Ulaanbaatar on August 1, and was brought to the derby’s starting point eight hours away with other riders.

She then started feeling sick on Monday. 

‘It’s a lot of gastrointestinal stuff,’ Anders said. ‘I was throwing up and stuff like that.’

Two medics at the base camp then examined her.

‘They told me I needed nothing, but did nothing for me,’ Anders said. ‘They told me to ride it out.

‘One of the medics didn’t even touch me or ask me any questions,’ she continued.

‘The other one took my pulse for a couple of seconds. They didn’t take my vitals, didn’t ask if I was diabetic or what medications I was taking,’ said Anders, who is a former medic in the US Army with a doctorate in medical science and emergency medicine from Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee.

‘All they told me was it would pass in 24 hours.’ 

But Anders realized that even though she was not considered ‘critically ill’ she was not well enough to endure the trek.

She said she spoke about her concerns with the race director, Katherine.

‘Katherine came to my yurt and talked to me at least twice. I told her I was sick both days,’ Anders recounted.

Eventually, race directors summoned a driver to take her back to Ulaanbaatar – but did not book her a hotel or a flight back to the US.

‘They put me in a vehicle for eight hours sick with a GI bug, with a driver who barely spoke English,’ Anders lamented.

‘I had to use Expedia from base camp to book a hotel, had the driver stop in the city and get my passport so I could finally check into a hotel.’

She now says she wishes the derby organizers had done more.

‘I was too ill to get on a horse for 620 miles. But I was also too ill to get in a car for eight hours and be dumped off into a city without a passport or a flight home.’ 

Anders noted that she has since reached out to event organizers, but has not received a response.

‘Now I’m stuck here and they couldn’t give a c***,’ she said, noting the first flight she could catch does not leave until Sunday – and will only get her as far as Seattle, Washington.

‘I just want to get back to the US,’ she said. 

But she is also hoping she could be reimbursed for the travel and entry costs.

‘I paid around $30,000 to go over for this thing,’ Anders said. ‘My entry fee alone was almost $17,000 – and I didn’t even get my blood pressure taken when I was sick.’

In all, Anders says the experience she had been looking forward to has been ‘kind of a mess’ and ‘not very organized.’

‘I wake up at 1.30 in the morning to throw up in the Mongolian Steppe, and I hear Miley Cyrus’s Party in the USA blasting and everybody’s drunk,’ she recounted to Cowboy State Daily.

‘I told the race director that if I wanted to be exposed to Miley Cyrus blasted at 1:30 in the morning, I would have gone to any trailer park in Wyoming.’ 

A spokesperson for The Equestrianists said: ‘We are really sorry that Diana Anders felt the need to withdraw from the race. Our team works really hard to help as many riders as possible reach the finish line. 

‘We wish Diana the speediest of recoveries as a gastrointestinal bug is certainly unpleasant. Our primary responsibility is to provide emergency medical support to all our competitors, we strive to go above and beyond for the contestants’ health and wellbeing. We stand by our team’s actions and by our medic’s assessment of her condition as we supported Diana in her decision to withdraw from the race.

‘Our expert medics examined Diana immediately after she alerted us to any symptoms. She was reporting with mild diarrhea and vomiting (D&V) but showed no signs of dehydration.

‘Our policy based on medical advice is to observe symptoms of D&V with no dehydration for 12 to 24 hours before administering fluids because invasive procedures such as IV cannulation increases the risk of infection in wilderness environments.

‘Our medics advised Diana to rest, stay hydrated, consider electrolytes and remain under their medical care so they could continue to monitor her and treat symptoms if they got worse. When reassessed later, her condition showed no concerning symptoms that required further intervention, and the same advice was given.

‘Diana chose to discharge herself from our medics’ care and did not seek further assessment. She decided to retire from the race and requested a lift back to the capital city, which we arranged, taking her to her hotel of choice.

‘In case of a serious injury that requires immediate medical evacuation, we keep hold of all contestant passports in a secure safe. A member of staff then took Diana’s passport to her enroute to her hotel for her convenience.

‘We arranged for our medics to visit Diana for a third time in her hotel room. Her observations were normal, and she reported an improvement in her condition. Our team then escorted her to the international medical clinic in the capital for further monitoring and onward care, where she was discharged shortly afterwards.

‘Once again we wish her a speedy recovery and we will continue to provide support for Diana if she prefers to return home but would also welcome her back into the field to ride on if she’s feeling better soon.’