Well, I finally did it!

Today I ran my first Ride and Tie race.

What's a Ride and Tie race, you ask?

It's fairly simple to understand. A Ride and Tie team comprises one horse and two riders: while one of you is riding, the other is running; you switch off several times during the race. These are cross-country races, anywhere between 7 and 100 miles.

Today's event offered three distances: 7 miles, 15 miles, and 25 miles. It was held near Boulevard, CA (about mid-way between San Diego and El Centro), at an elevation of about 4,000 feet. Inasmuch as this was my first race we opted for the 15-miler.

My teammates today were Becky and Miss Cocoa. Becky had completed one Ride and Tie race before today - a 25-miler - and a few 25-mile endurance rides. Miss Cocoa - a 10-year-old half-Arabian, half-Peruvian Paso mare - had completed a couple of endurance rides, but this was her first Ride and Tie.

The long-and-short of it is that there were six or seven teams racing the 15-mile course, and we finished third! We're planning on doing another in Descanso, CA in June: same team.

I'll have pictures soon; when I get them I'll post them.

 

Never heard of this before, thanks for the education.

Congrats.

 

Yeah, I have never heard of this either. Sounds pretty fun. Congrats on the podium finish as well!

 

That does sound pretty cool! I'm sure the hundred mile+ courses are ridiculous; I wish I had delved into horse-riding more a few years ago.

 

It was a blast!

Thanks.

What's really surprising is that I'm doing all of this with two dead guys' tendons in my knees: I tore both ACLs in Tae Kwon Do and have cadaver grafts; one was done fifteen years ago and one thirteen years ago. I can run for miles on trail without my knees hurting a bit. I'm going to send pictures to the orthopedic surgeons to put in their brochures.