Julia joins the
Blue Wolf Totem 2026
"On the Trail of the Ancients"
4,000 km on horseback in 120 days to help Mongolian children in need.Julia joins the
Blue Wolf Totem Charity Expedition!
Quick Donate
CANADIAN RESIDENTS PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO THE CANADIAN 'DONATE' BUTTON.
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Thank You to all my supporters!
My Goal is to raise
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In May, 2022 Julia will set off on an expedition of unparalleled distance and importance. She will be riding 3,600 kilometers across the breadth and width of Mongolia and all of it to help disadvantaged Mongolian children who are being helped by Veloo Foundation's Children of the Peak Sanctuary Project.
For the Full story on the ride - please click the article to the right! |
#RideLikeChinggis
Click the Donate Button Below to Sponsor Julia's ride!
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American & International Residents
Canadian Residents
Become a monthly sponsor, and make a difference all year long and a full year's worth of your sponsorship will be added to Julia's Total Raised!
100% of all donations* will go to help the children!
(*minus bank fees)
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Mongolian Charity Adventure!
Julia Fisher, 70
USA
I am an academic (Ph.D. in Cognitive Linguistics) raised in concrete, asphalt and steel (Chicago, Milwaukee, Montclair, NJ). I have moved all over the US for school and academic jobs.
Fifteen years ago, after moving to the SE USA, my informal empty nest therapy drove me to take my first riding lesson and to discover horses. In short order, I had bought a little bay Arabian mare (2009) and she and I completed almost 1,000 miles in Limited Distance endurance (< 50 miles) before jumping into 50+ mile rides. We have traveled between Florida and Virginia for AERC rides, and managed an additional 1,000+ miles in endurance riding; Maya and I were limited only by my full time work as an Professor of Psychology at Coker College, a small liberal arts college here in Hartsville. I lost Maya last year – but realized very quickly she had taught me that I need to have a horse in my life. Once I got her started, Ella and I were able to complete 5 LD rides in 4 months.
I have been a member of the Board of Directors for the South Carolina Horsemen’s Council for several years, and serve on the Federal Resource Advisory Committee for disposition of funds on Federal Park lands in South Carolina – advocating for recreation facilities for the horse community. I’m a member of the Friends of Lee State Park, and Friends of H. Cooper Black – state parks in SC that offer extensive trails for horses.
I’ve become addicted to the smell of pine needles baking in the sun in the Sandhills region of South Carolina, riding for hours and miles, several times a week, on state and federal lands locally. I discovered Mongolia in 2013 and began actively connecting with many alumna of the Mongol Derby to gauge my ability to be competitive. I made my first trip in 2017 and my second in 2019. I’ve been obsessed: watching every video I could find, reading blogs and pouring over the websites. I feel like I’ve been riding the Steppes in my sleep for years now, and looking forward to the opportunity to immerse myself in the countryside and the culture!
About same time as the first trip, I started looking for ways to make a positive contribution to this remarkable society and culture. Many years earlier, I had focused my professional academic training on child language acquisition – for both first and subsequent languages. Certainly, this course landed me in direct contact with children of different ethnicities in multiple cross-cultural contexts. My ‘scholarly’ appraisal?: Children are incredibly under valued.
It’s cliché that ‘Children are our future’. And we pay lip service to that while repetition without action renders it trite. Many democratic countries struggle to get their citizenry invested enough in children to financially support basics like food and shelter much less a quality education. I feel strongly that care and attention to children is one of the most telling barometers of the humanity of a society. Children are abused and dismissed and neglected and trafficked and literally killed worldwide. The Veloo Foundation is acting. I am so excited to be able to have this opportunity to explore the Mongolian countryside in a way that not only offers me personally a glorious experience, but also contributes in such a fundamental way to the physical / mental / academic health of the children.
The reason why this ride matters!
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Seeing these children safe, warm, cared for and educated up at the Children of the Peak Sanctuary is what motivates me. Thank you for helping me help them!
#RideLikeChinggis
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