Trail Ride Manners

This past weekend I partciapated in Hoofin' For Heroes at the Double J Ranch in Whitmire, SC. This was a worthwhile benefit ride and for the most part I had a great time. This was my second trip to the Double J, and I will go back.

However, this blog is not about the event nor the Double J. The event organizers and the people working at Doubel J are both fantastic. It is about inconsiderate riders who sadly appear at any such ride.

There is a time and place for everything and being a worthy horse person, you know when it is the right time to do the right thing by riding the right way in your current situation. The problem is those with the cowboy mentality that take no consideration of other riders and horses.

If you want to haul ass, GREAT! There is a time and place for it. However, when you are hauling ass and you come up to other riders you need to slow down to a walk and ask if it is OK to pass. There was a rowdy group there, and I begrudge them none of their fun, however, we had nice group going and once they came upon us our group got spread out into three different groups. My horse backed into a ditch and my wide's horse was bucking and doing 360's, and the rowdy bunch thought it was funny. We also happened to have a couple very young (10 year olds) riders in our group. This could have turned out to be a diaster!

Another irritant, the Rowdy Group also had a horse with a BIG BOOM BOX on it. It was an impressive setup, however, I was out there to enjoy my horse in a natural setting not to listen to someone else's choice of music. While what they were playing was fine, it isn't what I was into at that moment. This also put our horses on edge.

This is all about the lack of consideration for other riders. While the Rowdy Group may have all been VERY experienced riders with bombproof horses, that was not the case with everyone out there. There are riders and horses of all different levels. Some of these horses were very green as were some of the riders. Double J is challenging enough without this added human element.

I change my riding style based on who I am riding with and interestingly enough, my horse Fancy seems to be in tune with the situation. If there are inexperienced riders we take it easy and she does not push to do more than I want. Then there are some people we ride with that we can step it up a notch. She is well aware that if we go it alone, then we will step up another notch and have a very spirited ride.

Again, have your fun, but when you come upon another group, calm it down until you can CALMLY work your way away from them. Be CONSIDERATE!