Distance Riding

I was at my first Competitive Trail Riding competition May19&20 where I was thrilled to meet barefoot horsegirl and her partner, Benjamin. I wasn't riding, my daughter was and I was pit crew/paparazzi!
What a fun time it was. Saw a Standardbred, Ace, win top prize for his 30 mile Long Distance Ride (winning over the typical endurance horse, Arabians!), watched experienced riders, and new ones, ate a ton of great food for both suppers and met some really nice people and horses. Is anyone else here doing CTRs? I hope to at some point. My daughter is hooked, that's for sure! She's only ten so lots of riding ahead of her.

I can't wait for the next one!

I rode Benjamin this time around and he surpassed my expectations. What a good boy. I had an opportunity the week before to share travelling with someone who was attending the ride. Beauty has been really bitchy again since January so I figured, what he Bleeding heart, I'm going to try Benjamin. (I gave Jason the option to ride and he said no, so I 'stole' his horse).

He loaded on the trailer with no issue. The ride was in Stanley, NS which I think is in Hants County. When we were 20 minutes from the ride site we blew a tire! Thank god we weren't on the highway. We take the horses off and I handle them while one person took the truck to the ride site to get another truck/trailer and the other worked on the mechanical issues. Truck/trailer arrive (I'm shitting mysef worrying that Benjamin won't load this time. Its 9:30 at night and now dark on the side of the road) but he goes on again like an old pro. I setup our pens for the horses in the dark while the others go to retrieve 'our' trailer. Anyways, all was well and we were all setup and having a much deserved beer happily by 11pm :). What could have been disasterous all worked out.

Saturday was the 30 mile ride which I did not enter. They lady I travelled with came in 2nd that day which was cool.

Sunday was the 15 mile and Benjamin was a star. He was one of the only horses that went completely barefoot and he did awesome! He's such an easy guy to ride. We went with a group of 3 experienced riders and we got to lead quite a bit of the way because Ben was so calm. (We had to complete the ride no faster then 4MPH or we would be penalized. Its slow!). The ride was really easy. Both days we had huge meals afterwards, turkey, potatoes, veggies, tons of dessert, salads, etc. I'm sure I ate close to $30 worth of meals on Sunday, and the food is included for only a $30 entry.

Benjamin is not suited to the sport so much because of his size and age (20 y/o), but were just out there to have fun. We got a 91 out of 100 on Sunday. We didn't place but I am still so happy/proud. The next ride is in Parrsboro June 16th & 17th. 20 miles both days. Hopefully the 'stars align' again and I can hitch a ride.

Just confirmed transportation for Parrsboro...I can't wait! :)

I'd be pretty pleased with that Condition score! And what a trailer adventure you had, glad you're getting to go to Parsborro.

Willow is going to NB to participate in a Judged Pleasure ride with my daughter Marie. She's been going pretty well for her, cooperative and balanced. Fingers crossed that they have fun and have a pretty uneventful ride!

Glad Marie is getting to ride this weekend. Sorry that I will miss you guys. We are home this time around. Unfortunatly the bank account is only big enough for so many rides. I hope to make it to St. Stephen at the end of the month. Take lots of pics and have fun! :)

Marie had a great ride! and Willow won for Trail Horse which made Mama proud, hehehe. Might you make it to Stanley in October? We're not riding that one, we'll be too busy helping and it's a 30 mile LD or 50 mile Endurance - we're not there yet!
I plan to get my buttercup in the saddle now that Marie is going back to school I can take my horse back!

Going to my first Judged Pleasure ride on Sunday intending to ride the 15 miles on Willow. Pretty exciting for me but I've had this freakin' cold for the past couple of weeks and have not been riding. If I actually finish the ride, I'm gonna be pretty sore. Hope I don't cry too much!
Thought of letting Marie ride her as she's in shape (she's 10, she's always in shape!) which is better for Willow. But I don't think I'm horribly unbalanced and I'm riding with a nice patient partner on her big Clyde/Han cross. He'll have done the 35 the day before so won't mind taking it easy. And Mama really wants her turn! Keep your fingers crossed for me, please!

Fingers are crossed. Just walk the Advil cold and sinus to you. It never seems to help when a cold is at its peak, but does an OK job once you are over the worst. Where is the ride you are going to?

I would love to try one next year. Finally got shoes on my boys wonky foot and he comes quite sound - but don't know if he would ever be up to something that strenuous. My older daughter would love to and her sister would likely as well. I would be happy to be pit crew for them :-) Next best thing.

Have fun!!

The Judged Pleasure rides are between 15-20 miles with no time constraints, so you can take your time if you like. There are a variety of horses in the group from really fit athletes to ones like mine that need management and sometimes I can't take her. When she's ridden consistently, Willow doesn't find 15-20 miles hard to do and she hasn't had any problems afterward. It helps to note how many miles she goes and at what average speed. Then I can keep track of her condition, such as it is!
The ACTRA website www.ac-tra.ca has lots of info on it. I got a family membership this year, our first year. There's a Facebook group too. The american groups www.aerc.org & www.endurance.net are tons of fun to look at too.
I know what you mean about pit crewing for your daughter, I loved doing it for mine and watching her do her ride was so much fun. And there are not that many junior (under 16) riders right now. Some rides it's only been the two that we take. I hope you join & come on some rides! You don't have to be an ACTRA member to ride the rides, but if you are your mileage is tracked and you're on the email list and the senior members are really helpful and welcoming.

and thanks Tango, I'll try that Advil cold & flu - I am over the worst now!

There is a ride across the river from us in Wickham, NB in Aug. We are going to try that one for sure. We finally got our own trailer. It is only a two horse but for some place close two trips is no problem. Now I just need to learn to drive with horses in it. I took it to be inspected empty, but haven't worked up to actually hauling horses. My hubby drives truck so as long as he is available I am happy to let him do the driving. He doesn't need the "forty acres" to turn the rig around lol. I on the other hand ...

Next weekend my husband is going to go pick up our friends horses and bring them down and we are going on a ride through our woods. Our property buts up against CFB Gagetown and the woods are full of old skidder roads that eventually hit the army roads. Unfortunately we don't have good access through our property, there is a swamp so may have to trailer our guys down to the army road as well. We haven't been out back in a long time so this weekend we plan to go with the four wheeler and check the trails, hopefully we can find a way so we don't have to trailer our guys. Just have to stock up on some vests etc. I wonder if you can get some sort of wash off hunter orange spray to put on the horses as well.

Hahaha, I can just see Willow after spraying her with hunter orange paint - too funny! We have a hubby in our crew who used to drive long-haul and he's fantastic with the horse trailer. Worth his weight in horses!
I went to that ride in Wickham this past August, it was lots of fun - that's a great ride. Hope we'll meet on the trails sometime!

I bought an ACTRA membership this year and never made it to any of the events. Sounds like a lot of fun. I'm hoping to do more outings with my horse next year. I'm going to try to get out to a few competitive trail rides (I'm new to the competitive trail riding scene). I have heard that the ride in Wickham and in Belleisle Creek ride are very nice. I have drove through both areas and they look like they both would be beautiful places to ride. Hope to get there next year. :)

My oldest daughter has signed up for the Duke of Edinburgh award. She has to do an "adventure expedition" thing. Horseback riding counts :-) so she wants to try and organize an overnight trail ride.... It is figuring out how to keep horses contained over night that is our biggest challenge and horse friendly place to go that isn't too far. She will have to find out if she could use one of these already organized rides. That would be alot of fun!

That's pretty cool, nothing more adventurous than camping with horses! Not sure where you live, Tango, but we're having our last organized ride this Saturday in Stanley, NS. She could see how riders contain their horses. There's lots of info on internet too. Endurance.net AERC.org and our ACTRA site are some good ones. They all have links to other groups as well. And there may well be other rides near her that she could see. We set up an electric fence on plastic step-in posts for ours, we've taken as many as four horses at a time. They're also called hot fences on some sites.
Pretty fun school work for your daughter!