Trail Horse Challenges!

[StraightForward]

I've been interested in doing these for quite a while. I took Maya, my previous mare, to one in-hand, then a second one under saddle. It was fine for her when she was green because she was a horse who basically had no $#its to give.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoh7xiGgw3M

Today the local riding club had an open ride opportunity at their obstacle course (same one as the video), but dressed up with Halloween decorations. I just took Annabelle through a few things in hand. I'm looking forward to taking her back in the spring when they're offering a clinic. If you can get through this, any dressage show should be a breeze!

Anyone else dabble in these events?

[exvet]

My son and I (and at times the whole family) would compete in something similar. Usually they were 8 mile or so rides with obstacles interspersed throughout the ride. They were great and really gave him something to work on that one could do with any horse - no need for fancy, just obedience and trust. They're great for young horses. Took my stallion to a few just to build up his confidence and instill manners in large groups of horses. We would sometimes have up to 80 on a ride. I wouldn't mind taking my guys to these now if I had the time.

[StraightForward]

Having them in a trail ride would be great. I've found that all of them one after another is a little (or a lot) overwhelming to a young horse. More time to settle between each obstacle would be better, but I haven't heard of any such events around here. The logistics would be a lot harder for the organizers, I'm sure.

[exvet]

Yes, the logistics are a challenge. I had a friend who was hosting several of these in our area. We're very lucky to have a lot of places to trail ride and do this type of event. The park services were very willing to assist; but, at the end of the day whether private or public land (used/did both) the coordination and hosting of an event ended up being rather thankless and exhausting. For participants it was a lot of fun so I was sad to see her move on to other things. I totally understood her wish to do so having seen the sacrifices she went to in order to put them on - just the set up and tear down was demanding and time consuming.

[Josette]

I use to participate in Trail Paces as exvet described - several miles long with some obstacles. They were so much fun looking out for ribbon markers to follow the route - passing lookout judges to confirm you stayed on course too.

[Sue B]

That would be a great thing to take Tio to. Let me know when they are having a clinic!