Monday, April 14, 2008

Endurance Riding





This past weekend I volunteered at an endurance ride. Why on earth someone would want to ride 30, 60 or 100 miles in one day is beyond me. If I were inclined to ride a long distance (which I'm not) I would likely ride from the border of Mexico to Canada - or follow the Santa Fe Trail. The American Endurance Ride Conference (AERC) makes ever effort to ensure that endurance riding is safe thus all sorts of rules apply - some of which I got to enforce! This was an AERC sanctioned ride. The girls that put on this ride are top notch riders and have ridden in endurance rides all over the US and the Middle East. These pics were taken at one of the hold areas that all the riders had to stop at for a vet check and rest. The riders that competed in the 100 miles left at 4:30 AM and when I left at 10 PM they were still out riding - now, doesn't that sound like loads of fun?

3 comments:

Pony Girl said...

I just linked to your blog through another site and really enjoyed it. Great photography and I liked your story about Viente. I'll be back to visit again!

Tamara Baysinger said...

LOL I'm an endurance rider, and it's a blast! We take great care to be sure our tack is extremely comfortable for horse and rider, I can tell you that! I can't think of anything better than spending 8 hours at a posting trot...can you? Thanks for volunteering at the ride -- volunteers are SO important in our sport.

Mel said...

I just found your blog. I'm an endurance rider and I LOVE endurance riding. It's my passion in life. I can't think of ANYTHING I would rather do than to trot through some of the most beautiful country for hours on horseback.

Hope to do my first 100 in September!