Anyone here do Ride-and-tie?

[HungarianHippo]

A friend and I are considering entering one in SC in May. We’re both good riders and runners, and she has a very fit Arab trail horse, but this would be the first RAT for all three of us.
Would love to hear any tips if any folks here have done one. I’m curious what to wear (I expect it will be very warm-- so we will need to balance comfort in the saddle with not getting overheated while running) and also what kind of support crew we need.

ETA: also curious about the strategy of when to tie. The RAT website suggested every 1/2 or mile-- this seems really short. Why not do longer increments? I have to imagine all that mounting & dismounting would be a big energy drain.

[chicamux]

There is a group of crazy people here in northern VA and MD that compete in R&T. All the Old Dominion Endurance competitions also host their R&Ts. I’ve marked trail for them before and observed.

Often they run concurrently with a regular ride so your tied horse may have to deal with staying tied while riders pass it. Do try to practice a bit. If possible try to arrange ahead of time to pair up with another team for the horses sake. Runners often miss turns and run for a while before they realize it. Watching the ground and not the ribbons. If you switch frequently then you can kinda keep track of each other.

Last fall while drag riding a loop at the Fort Valley endurance/R&T we came on a tied horse. I knew that all the R&T people including any runners had to ahead of us or we would have passed a runner. My riding partner and I sat and waited.Eventually the runner who had tied the horse came back. She had realized she had been running far to long, her partner should have found the horse and ridden past her. She and I went back looking for her partner and found her before too long. She had missed a turn and kept running down a road for a loooong way before she turned around. This was their first competition at R&T. If they had been switching out at shorter intervals they would have known earlier that something was wrong. So maybe that is a good reason to start out that way. And look up!

Bonnie Snodgrass

[Lisa_Preston]

I’ve done quite a few. Bags of fun, great conditioning. Here’re some nuggets: each rider carry a tiny knife, carry an extra tie on the saddle and have one in the crew bag at the vet check; fastest runner out front; do not overlap each other, but rather keep the same runner in front always; do not use stirrups to dismount.

[Lisa_Preston]

and tie after turns not before.

[HungarianHippo]

Thanks for the tips.
So on the fastest runner in front/not overlapping comment, I want to be sure I understand. Let’s say I’m the speedy one. So I’m the first rider, I leave my horse after xx miles. Slower runner arrives at tied horse and rides only until she reaches me. Rinse and repeat. As the faster runner, I always get a horse “delivered” to me rather than run up to a tied horse. Do I have that right?

So many variables to think about in the strategy, I think this will be really fun. We are well-matched in terms of running pace, both tend to run 8:30-9:00min miles over the full marathon distance (though given that we’ll be running in much shorter intervals, I wonder if we pace ourselves like a series of 10ks).

[AmarachAcres]

So wait, the runners are able to catch up to horses? I’m going to have to read about this. I can’t run for squat, but it’s interesting.

[HungarianHippo]

Well, the runner doesn’t catch up to the moving horse-- she “catches up” only because the horse has been tied to a fence, waiting for her
But obviously the horse will be faster overall.

Let’s say the horse is at a steady trot pace of 9 mph. That translates to a 6:42 min/mi pace. If the humans are running a 9:00 min/mi pace, the horse will cover each mile 2 minutes 18 seconds faster than the runner. If we go for 3 miles between exchanges, the tied horse will wait about 7min for the trailing runner to show up.

ETA from what I’m reading, you don’t need two exceptionally strong runners to have fun – lots of people walk, too. The rules do require you to switch off a certain # of times-- it’s not like one partner could do all the running and the other do all the riding. Check out the rideandtie.org website.

[Lisa_Preston]

You’ve got it exactly right. Many advantages with not overlapping -only one of you ever ties, only one of you ever unties, you always know your partner’s behind you, she will always know you’re in front. When you ride into the vet check, you will run out immediately, fueling on the trail, letting the crew handle your horse. The folks who advised you to have short ties of a 1/ mile or so are dead on right, too. I know it seems counterintuitive because this is a distance endeavor, but I’ve done it many times both ways, and you’re team will be much, much faster as a unit with many short ties, versus several miles or more between ties.

When you get to the ride site, back track a mile or so on the first loop from the vet check so you and your partner recognize terrain as you finish that loop in the race - (Ah, there’s that one clearing - this is my last tie.)

It’s hugely fun. If you go do some R&T with the pony and your friend ASAP for conditioning rides (excellent interval training for the horse), you’ll both catch on to fast flying ties (and with frequent ties, you’ll see one of the obvious reasons not to use stirrups to dismount.

For your buddy, the “valet” runner fetching and delivering your horse (I’ve been both the front and the valet runner quite a bit), she can develop a feel for spotting the ground as she first sees you. If you can both do off-side mounts and dismounts, that’s very helpful. So she see you 50 yards ahead, hollers your pony’s name to warn you it’s her coming not someone else. At 30’, she’s kicked her feet free and slowed to a trot. A stride before you, she’s bailing off the off-side while you’re reaching for reins and tie rope on the left, you shout “Got her” and partner lets go of the rope and reins to run off hard as she can. If you did a flying mount, she never makes it past you ‘cause you’re so fast on the horse you’re already gone. If you stopped the pony to mount, you canter past your partner in the next 50’, ride a fast three-quarter of a mile and tie.

Now you’re ahead riding, you drink and take half a Gu and it’s time to look for a tie. This is a bit like your partner’s dismount in that you choose that tie froma distance for the visibility, horse footing, tree sturdiness, shade if needed, etc. You’ve picked your tree up there 50’ ahead, dumped your stirrups at 30’, hook reins lightly on the industrial twister tie at the saddle front, jump off at 10" with the tie rope only, 'biner to the tree, say whoa. and run away.

Really, practice the snot out tie selection, quick untying and fast hand-offs. Your partner can practice fast untying by paying attention to that tied horse she finds - analyzing the footing and any tangles on her run up, so she’s very, very fast at getting the horse off the tree and getting herself cantering down the trail.

Making those three maneuvers (ties, handoffs and unties) super fast will save you at least 20 minutes total in a 25 mile R&T which easily takes you to a 3 hour run instead of a 3:20 run.

[Lisa_Preston]

Amarch,
The other runner is going to catch up to a tied horse that Hungarian will leave for her.
But sure, runners can catch horse. I’ve frequently caught and passed endurance horses while running a concurrent R&T.
In endure, I tend to dismount those typical long forest road descents and hand run-- we’ve passed other horses doing so. It’s just easier on my mare to not pound the descent, same reason I tail up some super steep climb - easier on her.

[AmarachAcres]

I realize nothing has probably happened, but I just can’t get past the idea of leaving my horse behind. I hate leaving them tied to a safe hitching area in a barn in a fully fenced area.

To have to find a tree or something, and then leave him behind? I’m not saying it’s wrong at ALL. But Murphy’s Law is glued to my arse like an unwelcome leach. It’s always when I think everything is fine something goes wrong.

It sounds fun, but it’s not in my constitution.

[Lisa_Preston]

Whatever you’re imagining, yeah, probably has happened. And the loose horse thing, too. A friend once caught three different loose horses while he was running. I ran past my horse when she went behind the bushy evergreen she was tied to and ran on for 20 miles before my partner fixed in. One of my partner’s and I developed the “carry-a-knife and an extra tie line” practice due to a horse wrapping itself around the tree so tightly. Even if ya don’t want to compete at it tho, R&T is terrific conditioning for horse and humans. It’s a very natural way for a horse to travel, speed/stop, and intervals really give horse and human a big bang for the time spent in conditioning.