ACTHA Obstacle rides..

[KSquared]

Can anyone tell me what sort of obstacles there are on these rides?

I already have a tarp up between two t-posts with a cone and a piece of heavy duty pool Vacuum like hose on the top of each t-post. Tody was crazy windy and the tarp was going nuts and I feed the horses in front of it and it doesn’t bother them a bit.

This weekend I am going to get some pool noodles and hang them in front of the barn entrances so they have to go through them.

Is there anything else I can put up or add to the arena that will give them some obstacles to face? (That are not dangerous) I am thinking of digging a couple good sized holes and filling them with water to send them through.

Maybe I will have the hubby build me a bridge out of the many many pallets we have.

Anything else?

[Simbalism]

Trying to remember some of the obstacles I have done. The last ACTHA ride I did was in a murder mystery format. One of the obstacles was a dummy laying on the ground( the murder victim). You had to walk by the dummy, pick up a plastic table cloth hanging on a bush, back up and cover the “body” with the tablecloth. Weave poles(like pole bending), side pass, bridges, water crossings, mail box, drag something, sack your horse with a rain coat, pick up an obstacle at one point and move it to another after opening and reading clue, gates.

[sunny59]

All of their obstacles are described on the website. You can get ideas there…

[Malda]

[QUOTE=Simbalism;7007302]
Trying to remember some of the obstacles I have done. The last ACTHA ride I did was in a murder mystery format. One of the obstacles was a dummy laying on the ground( the murder victim). You had to walk by the dummy, pick up a plastic table cloth hanging on a bush, back up and cover the “body” with the tablecloth. Weave poles(like pole bending), side pass, bridges, water crossings, mail box, drag something, sack your horse with a rain coat, pick up an obstacle at one point and move it to another after opening and reading clue, gates.[/QUOTE]

I just wanted to say that sounded like fun! The murder mystery theme.

[SonicBoom]

The one and only ACTHA ride I went on had a few “water obstacles” since there was a nice creek that ran along the route. You had to ride down into the deepest part of the creek (water came up almost to horses belly). There was a sponge on a string tied to a pole in the creek. You had to get the sponge wet then wipe your horse on the neck and replace the sponge. I dont know how you could recreate this at home, but just wanted to give you a heads up Their website does have all of the obstacles listed along with a demo video for most. It sounds like youve got a great jump start on your obstacles at home though. I wish there were more rides near me =/

[KSquared]

Yeah, I found the obstacles AFTER I posted LOL!!

but it is ok, you all might have ideas about obstacles that might not be on the obstacle list or other fun obstacles to try.

[littlebaypony]

One tip, make sure you completely understand the instructions at each obstacle. I buddy rode with a friend on an ACTHA ride (I talked her into competing because she has a better trail horse) and she had a problem with getting poor scores because she didn’t understand the instruction. As an observer could see where they were not providing good instructions. We also had a problem with judges being inconsistent with the instructions they gave and despite the trails being very confusingly marked (that’s another long tale) they would not point us in the right direction even though we saw them helping other riders. We finally joined up with a really great older gentleman that the judges treated extremely well. That particular ACTHA ride no longer exists and I’ll bet you can guess why.

[Simbalism]

The murder mystery was fun. They had clues all along the trail, and at the end of the ride you got to ask questions to the different characters. Pretty fun. I agree with being sure you understand the instructions for each obstacle. I have done about 5 rides and didn’t ever get very good scores although my horse was very calm and completed what I thought the obstacle was. I also think that the judges are not very consistant in their scoring. I rode out on one ride with a friend. There were several obstacles that her horse didn’t even complete as well as several that he did poorly. She won 6th place in the pleasure division and I didn’t get anything although my horse did all but one obstacle and was calm and willing thru everything else. My friend was shocked because my horse was so much better than her horse.

[Malda]

I’m hearing a lot of complaints about inconsistent judging. I wonder what sort of training they receive?

[bintniteza]

I judged an obstacle at an ACTHA ride once a couple of years ago. There was an online video that judges were supposed to watch prior to the event.

I was stationed at the final obstacle. One woman showed up riding an almost out-of-control horse in draw reins! Trail riding in draw reins? That is definitely against the rules, but no one else had mentioned it to her. Another rider, a youth competitor, had a tiedown on her horse. That is also against the rules, and no had called her on it either.

The rules were posted at the check in as well as being posted on the ACTHA website, but evidently everyone doesn’t bother to read them.

Both competitors seemed to feel that I was picking on them since none of the other obstacle judges had said anything to them. Probably the event organizers need to have a briefing for judges, and maybe some do, but the organizers at this ride did not.

[Simbalism]

I’m not sure what kind of training they get. I think basically they are volunteers with a short info meeting before the ride. The one thing I didn’t like is you don’t get any kind of feedback, so you don’t really know what to correct for future rides.