not a fun person to trail with anymore. :lol: I haven’t done an endurance ride since the late 80’s but my trail ride always has a goal in terms of speed and distance. I get really annoyed with casual trail riders that want to mosey. If I’m going to mosey I’ll just totter up the road from the barn. When I go to the trouble of hauling to trails I can’t help but make a plan.
Has endurance riding changed any of you other trail riders.
If you don’t want to do endurance anymore for some reason, why don’t you just trail ride alone and set your own goals to work towards? Distance, time, whatever. Or maybe you should find a couple of “gears” for yourself: today is going to be a training/conditioning/goal day and on the weekend I’ll go on a " hack and yack" with some friends for a whole different experience. It’s wouldn’t be a bad thing for your horse either to remember there are different types of riding that can be fun. It’s one thing to have goals but it sounds like you’ve narrowed yourself out of the enjoyment part.
I’ve never done endurance, but I’ve helped a friend condition her endurance horses & I can see why you love the work.
I’ve always loved doing dressage on the trails & sand roads, as well as the conditioning work for eventing. It can be really hard to find other people who enjoy this kind of riding. This is why I usually ride by myself.
Exactly! I rarely trail ride with anyone (other than someone that I know is also goal oriented) because I just feel frustrated with the casual nature of the ride. I don’t have to be speeding everywhere, but I do set time and distance measures. And I also work on things like half pass, shoulder in, turn on the haunches, etc. I feel my horse moves more forward naturally and he is getting better at listening to my aids despite what might be going on around us.
Just wondering if there’s others like me that take the joy out of a trail ride with their “anal retentiveness”. 
OMG. I should invent an app that connects like-minded trail riders (like a dating site). " I enjoy long walks on the beach at sunset," vs. “I like to run 10 miles on the beach every morning;” “I like to take things slow” vs. “I believe in living life at high speed;” “I like to offer a sugar cube or two every day” vs. “I have not allowed my horse to consume anything containing more than 8% sugar in exactly 1134 days,” etc.
Then, there would be the horses’ version: “I’m a hairy chunk o’ muscle and I sweat like a pig!” vs. “My hooves do not actually touch the ground and I do not perspire for the first 35 miles.” “Unless there is mash coating your face up past your noseband, you ain’t enjoying your snack” vs. “Is that organic? Is it too warm? Is it too cold? Is it too wet? Is it too dry?” Or, “I don’t need no shoes!” vs. “Are the gaiters on my trail boots adequate to protect me from the mud?” And, “Heck, I love me a crupper! Takes care of the itchies back there!” vs. “Certainly not! Away from there, you cad!”
But to answer the OP’s question, finding well-matched trail partners can be an all-but-insurmountable challenge. But worth it when you find Mr./Ms. Right.
That would be an awesome app But, alas, just as in dating I think you’d find riders fudging their abilities or using carefully crafted descriptions.
Yep, that sounds like me. I like to have a plan or a goal for my ride. It can be a walk only ride- I don’t have be a speed demon but that walking ride is definitely planned out (as in I want to do x amount of miles with x amount of hill work etc). I care of about zilch for the social aspect of riding- which also probably makes me not so fun to ride with lol. I do have 2 friends that have like minded goals and compatibly paced horses so we do ride together often but usually I’d just as soon ride by myself. For me, the riding and training and working towards something are the fun parts of riding. The only time I’ll go with a group or without a training plan is if I get the opportunity to go some place new that I can’t just go by myself to.
I’m with you. I personally don’t like riding with others while conditioning or on an endurance ride. I really believe in the “Ride Your Own Ride” principle. I like to ride the trail as fast and as comfortable as my mare is willing to go. I rode with a mentor my first year but weaned myself away the second year. I hate having to wait for a slow horse to meet me down a hill and I hate forcing my mare to keep up with other horses that go at a different pace or gait then her. I have a TWH horse mare and if she’s behind other horses (especially trotting horses) she gets really pacey to try and keep up. Recently she’s been dealing with some separation anxiety from her pasture mates at the vet checks and it’s kept her heart rate up too long as she frantically looks for them. She no longer goes out to pasture with fellow endurance horses.
I used to get super annoyed when I would plan and train to do a ride with someone and they would invite other people to join us last minute. It’s like, No, that’s no what I agreed upon!
Now if my friends do want to go on a ride together, I am all game for a leisurely walking trail ride on my retired show horse but as of now we go alone.
I’m always goal-oriented and like to know that we did the best we could do. I’m not necessarily trying to Top 10 in the 50s but I like to know that I got into my pecking order without anyone holding me back or pushing my horse past her limit.
I’m just starting to get into endurance riding, but have done lots of conditioning with my foxhunting horses since I started hunting and do sometimes feel a similar way. My main frustration has less to do with the speed and more that trying to ride with folks who primarily ride in the arena can be quite trying as they are very nervous about any tricky footing, fallen logs, elevation changes, etc. I don’t mind going slowly when I know that is the plan due to lack of fitness, nerves, etc. but I do get annoyed when someone says they are up for a tough workout and they are either freaking out about a simple creek crossing or their horse is huffing and puffing twenty minutes in.
If someone says they want a casual trail ride then I will take one of my young/green horses who need lots of slow miles or plan to do a tougher workout the ride before so that a nice and easy day will be beneficial and fun for a fit horse. I have a quite a few friends that I have tons of fun doing slow trail rides with, but only a couple of friends that I plan to do real conditioning rides with - one is an endurance rider and the others are fellow foxhunters.
Basically, I just like having a plan!
I like to walk trot and canter on my rides (horse would love to gallop but usually the footing isn’t good enough). I get so bored with folks that only like to walk. So mostly I ride on my own. I wish I had some like minded people I could ride with but most folks I know are older and worried about injuries.
I agree it would be awesome to have away to hook up with like minded people. I went riding with some people and I couldn’t bring my horse so I borrowed one of theirs and 5 minutes into the ride they took off at a gallop. I was like … ummm … I really don’t know this horse that well and don’t feel comfortable with this. The whole thing ended in disaster as another rider couldn’t control her horse, his bolted and she went off onto a big metal box. Not fun at all.
@Hopeless, that’s awful! I’m been hurt out on the trail and it sucked. I was on a green horse and the lead rider took off without warning spooking the horse in front of me. That scared my greenie and he bolted and bucked me off into a tree. Had to ride back to the trailer and every step my horse took was so painful on my back.
That would be me. 
And I agree that SharonA’s app would be great for riders like me (older than some + sorer than some from old horse-related injuries = sometimes nervous, sometimes slow) who check girth/cinch in the wash rack, outside the barn, up on the mounting block; who want a warm-up walk, trot, and maybe canter in the arena before we head out (after one more girth/cinch check!); want to “walk the first mile [or 2 or 3] out and the last mile [or the whole trail] in”; want to relax and chat and enjoy the scenery while wishing we could sight/scent/hear all spook sources before our horse does; long to canter but aren’t quite up to it today even though 40-odd years ago we’d have wanted to canter all the first and last two miles, with jumps.
Back in the day I’d have wanted every trial ride to be at least partially a cross-country training ride.
The ones described in this thread sound like so much fun! These days I’d be happy just to be the girth/cinch checker/water vessel checker/ carrot/granola feeder when the riding party gets back to the barn!
The crazies who gallop off with no warning are far worse than the slowpokes. I’d rather be bored than get hurt & fry my pony’s fragile brain!
Can’t stand the crazies who gallop off, even if I am comfortable on my horse. I like to ride with people who have good enough etiquette and respect to communicate before doing anything and making sure we’re on the same page. I personally prefer to ride alone.
I felt awful at a ride last year – I was doing the fun distance at a ride and there was only one other rider registered for that distance. She asked to ride with me because she was nervous about being alone in the bush. Her horse was definitely not conditioned and my horse did significantly better alone otherwise he starts to get attached and herdbound. I wanted to just go and enjoy my ride. I felt like a jerk for saying no, but she ended up doing the ride successfully and was proud of herself, and it was my last organized ride with my boy and I’m glad I chose to ride alone.
I have an occasional like-minded trail partner, but it still doesn’t go as well as riding alone. She likes to trot and canter a lot, which is great, but keeps her horse at hunter ring speeds while my horse likes to really move out on trail rides, especially with an extended trot. Usually this results in me fighting with my horse to slow down and not follow so closely when she leads. When I occasionally take the lead, it always ends with a comment about us going too fast.
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