I wanted to share an experience I recently had while trail riding at Eagle Ranch in Collins, MO.
Every year we go there in October for a Family Reunion Ride, this year they told us that there was an Endurance Race scheduled for that same weekend, that the park had been sold out and it would be rather crowded. But none the less we decided to go ahead and stay with that weekend. So my story begins.
We arrive on Wednesday and the only other people there are the manager of the ride, Jodie and some other woman who was just riding. We introduced ourselves to the ride manager and asked about what trails they were going to use as we were going to try and ride other trails that they weren't going to be on. She told us what trails they would be using and how their trails are marked but then told us to ride where we wanted to because we would not bother the endurance riders at all. I was a little skeptical!
Sure enough by Friday night the park was jammed packed with campers and trailers. Now I have worked for Horse Lovers Outlet and The Distance Depot for going on 4 years but this was going to be my first endurance race up close.
Saturday morning arrived with a bustle of endurance riders getting ready to hit the trail at the crack of dawn which was about 7:00 that morning. We on the other hand didn't get on trail until around 9:30 and with a young horse along to boot. This of course means that the endurance race is in full swing. Anyhow out on trail we go and sure enough we encounter our first group, who let us know they were coming even though we could hear them coming. We informed that group that we had a young horse along and they slowed down and let us get this young horse off the trail so they could go on by. As did the next group and the next group and the next group. Not one group of endurance riders or even one endurance rider just went by us without slowing down. They always thanked us for getting off the trails as we thanked them for slowing so we could get this young horse out of the way.
I have ridden a lot of trails with a lot of different people and I have to say I have never been more impressed with a large group of people as I was with the endurance riders. They were the most polite and trail friendly people I have ever had the opportunity to share trail with. So much so that I wanted to share this with all of you.
