On Sun, Mar 2, 2008 at 12:10 PM, Nancy Sturm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Guess why I haven't heard of > NATRC around here. > May be that there may be another organization in your area. Around here instead of NATRC rides there is the OAATS. They don't have the obstacle judging, campsite judging and the zillion rules that NATRC has. The basic premise of judging your horse's condition at the end of the ride vs beginning of the ride, but more laid back with the rules like AERC. I think that the SE part of the US has SEDRA. Don't know about out west.
Here's an excerpt from the website about competitive riding. There are two distinct disciplines of distance riding. The first is called Competitive Trail Riding or CTR. CTR is a timed event that judges an individual horses finishing condition against the same horses starting condition. Points are deducted for any condition considered to be worse at the end of the ride by the veterinary and lay judges. The points are considered for pulse rate, soundness, quality of gait, and metabolic conditions. The horse finishing the ride with the highest score over all is considered the winner. Competitive rides are great for entry-level riders. The rides are usually only 25 miles to 40 miles in length a day and most offer a novice ride of 10 to 20 miles. These rides are ridden at an average pace of 5 to 7 miles per hour, and all riders must complete the same course within the same amount of time.� Rules for CTR�s vary by geographic region so when competing in a CTR be sure you know the rules for that rides governing body.� All rides sanctioned by OAATS, Inc. are governed under the OAATS rules.� (for a copy of the rules check out the CTR Rule Page) What I like about these rides is you have an organized ride, can literally go on your own, marked trails, vets and other sane people. Being fairly new to horses (8 years), I don't know that many people who are into trail riding. The people I know are associated with 4 H and showing. I made the mistake of going on a trail ride with some people in our area that I didn't know that well. Didn't take long for the beers to come out. It was getting dark and they were still heading farther away. Calvin didn't want to go any farther. He wanted to go home and I agreed. We left the others and went back alone. By the time we got home it was pitch dark. The CTR rides have more sane riders who are usually helpful and do anything to keep their horses healthy. The novice rides are under 20 miles and are usually closer to 5 mph pace. Calvin's walk was 4 mph so really didn't take a lot of trotting or cantering. We had to really slow down to not come in under time. Come in too soon or too late and you lose points. Doesn't take a lot of conditioning to have a horse able to do a novice ride. You can do these forever. You are not forced to move up. I don't look at this as competition but a safe way to do trail rides in other areas that I'd never do on my own. -- Anna Southern Ohio
