Hello all! I’m looking for any and all endurance rides and training rides in and around the Maryland area! Anybody know of any?
Check out Chesapeak Trail Riding Club – they have some long ones in September…
http://www.ectra.org/Current%20Entries/2009CHESAPEAKE%20305080100.pdf
Also www.ectra.org should have some information on what may be going on within a reasonable haul from your location.
Unfortunately the Michaux Madness endurance ride (just over the PA line) was cancelled this year but may be back next year. Brenda Senseney is planning on starting her ECTRA competitive ride back up this summer. She didn’t hold it last year but will in 2009. It will be held in the Patuxent River State Park, just east of Damascus, MD. It’s a nice 25 mile ride and is great for the more novice horse as the terrain is moderate but really pleasant.
If you are looking for people to do training rides with in MD send me an email and I may be able to hook you up. I ride and compete and know several other Marylanders who also do. I travel around a bit to do good training rides as I live in a very flat area.
Unfortunately the number of rides in MD is very low at this point. There is a CTR and an endurance ride at the Fair Hill facility in the spring and a 3-day CTR in Sept.
Bonnie S.
i heard about the chesapeake in september! i started conditioning 3x a week for it about an hour each time under saddle. 
any reccomendations?
You need to lengthen your rides. You want to work up to doing maybe one long ride once a week and a couple of shorter rides during he week, that’s typical. A 2 hour ride I consider short, of course winter daylight hours really affect the ability to ride. A long ride may be three hours at a faster pace or 4-5 hours at a more moderate pace. To get ready for 25 miles will of course bedifferent than for 50 miles. A fast 25 requires more conditioning over time than slow 25s.
Bonnie S.
sept 18 will be my first competitive trail ride :)and its 25 miles :eek:…I am assuming that will be kept at a moderate pace…take longer rides??? my pleasure! this week was week 1 or me and my horses getting each other in ship shape for this thing! I wish I had company though! Nothing worse than riding alone 
what about supplementation for competitive trail horses??? should I be tweaking his diet at all??? he is only being fed once a day at the moment witha joint supp.
At an ECTRA CTR you have a window of 4:10-4:40 hr/min to complete the 25 miles without loosing points. This is minus the 20 minute hold at the mid-point check. On the rolling terrain of Fair Hill this means moving along at a pretty steady clip. You can figure you have slightly over 2 hours to cover 12.5 miles. You’ll be suprised how fast that time passes. After doing several rides and getting your horse fitter and fitter it will seem like ample time. However, most people who haven’t done distance riding aren’t used to riding at really forward trot and tend to ride a slower trot at first. So you may run short of time initially. Work with your horse and GRADUALLY increase the length of strides and speed of the trot. This should occur gradually over months or longer to prevent physical stress. If you want to have a sound horse for years to come.
Bonnie
Alas, I would like to got the the CTRC competitive ride this year, but it is on my daughter’s birthday. I already work so many weekends that I’m under strict orders not to work and not to volunteer or compete that weekend.
It’s a good ride. As I recall, the shortest ride is 30 miles. If I could remember to go to the darn meetings (I joined in December), I’d probably have more information. I’ll think about the meeting all day, and then forget about it by the evening. Arghh!
You are close enough to Fair Hill to do some training rides here and get familiar with the terrain. I recommend ordering a trail map and to stick to the mark trails at first. The orange trail is about 4 miles long, rocky and hilly. You could combine that with some other trails to make up a decent ride. There are bridges and tunnels on some of the trails, so it won’t hurt to school here.
Also, keep in mind that horses are likely to go faster on competition day than they do when you are out alone conditioning. A CTR starts in small groups, and unless you teach your horse to be able to leave a group, you are kind of stuck with the pace they set. If you want to “ride your own ride,” you’ll need to prepare for this aspect of things. Otherwise, you can stick with your group until you pass another, or are passed, and switch groups. I failed to train a horse to leave a group behind (or be left behind), and we ended up riding too fast in the first 5-10 miles. Very frustrating, but I had nobody to blame but myself for not thinking of this complication ahead of time.
It worked out for us toward the end, because one of the riders in our group became physically distressed, and my horse and I stayed to help her, giving all of us a much needed rest. We caught up with the two faster riders by the end of the ride as they were trying to cool their horses down in a stream. We made the time, despite our slowing down–at that point, I cared more for my horse’s condition and that of the distressed rider than I did about completing the ride on time. It’s all about pacing yourself and your horse so that you have a horse by the end of the ride.
he will venture out of the pack alone I am just concerned with getting enough conditioning time to end the ride with a have a happy, healthy, sound, pain in the butt horsie. If the rain doesn’t quit soon thought I surely will not have enough prep time!
I am in Fallston… so I am not incredibly far from Fair Hill… swet air isn’t very far from me either I am doing a judged trail ride tomorrow (weather permitting thanks to freaking mother nature…) at Fair Hill.
Ah. Wish I could go, but I’ve got to trim minis up in Glen Rock. Someday we’ll get ourselves to a judged trail ride. Have fun!
Did the judged ride get rained out? It poured today!!
Yes, it was canceled. They do plan on having a rain date though, sometime in Aug. or Sept. Hope I can get off. I wanted to go to the one in Sweet Air 2 weeks ago, but it was canceled on the 6th. Don’t know if they had it on the 7th or not.
Maybe I can make the next date. I’d like to see how Bank on Frank does at one of these things. He’s a neat horse. The little Arab mare…don’t want to blow her mind. She’s coming along so nicely, gaining confidence. Next year maybe.
I did a 12 mile introductory CTR like 25 years ago. Thinking of doing the Chesapeake 12 mile at Fair Hill in April. Have to get myself and my horse in shape. Would love any advice and maybe meet up to ride with someone.
Hi! I live in the Fair Hill area and have done that ride many times. Feel free to ask any questions 
