I picked up a flier at a local tag shop yesterday announcing a Poker Ride on May 9th. I have no clue whatsoever on what’s involved, how these work and what’s expected.
So gimme the details so I can decide if I and Penny are up for it.
Thanks!
Poker rides are tons of fun and you should definitely try it. What they are is, you pay a fee (usually around $5 - $7) per “hand”. You then pick a playing card out of a bag or sometimes they’re in envelopes. The card you pick is written down on an index card. You then go out and ride a trail course of a few miles or couple hours and along the way there are additional stops where you pick more cards. Then, you return to the starting area and usually one more card to make a hand of 5. Sometimes you can replace a couple of cards if you don’t like the hand you have. Then, after everyone has come in and turned in their cards, the organizers decide who is the winner based on who has the highest hand - flush, royal flush, straight, 2 of a kind, etc. Prizes are given and then you sit around and drink your adult beverage of choice and BS the rest of the afternoon.
The way my club does it is use poker chips that have a number from 1-100 written on them and the number is written down on your index card and whoever has the highest total at the end is the big winner. We also do a winner for the lowest total plus lots of prizes for everyone in between.
Have a good time!
poker ride
A typical poker ride is a trail ride where you pick up cards along the way to make your poker hand. At the start of the ride you buy however many hands you want to play and usually draw your first card.
Along the ride, you draw additional cards to complete your poker hand. Usually, your drawn cards are recorded on a piece of paper that you carry with you (no worries about losing individual cards). At the end of the ride, the papers are turned in and the people with the best poker hands usually win prizes or part of a jackpot.
The course/ride can vary from an easy ride along the beach to challenging mountain terrain.
The best bet would be to call the ride’s organizers to find out how challenging the trail is, how much parking is available, how many riders they usually have, etc.
I’ve been on some rides that went pretty smoothly, and others that had so many participants that I spent a good amount of time waiting in line to draw cards. That did give me a chance to dismount, loosen my cinch and let my horse relax for a bit, but it made a long day. I’ve never won much on a poker ride, but I always have a nice ride, meet some interesting people and get some large group exposure for my horse.
Are the cards usually grab-able from the saddle or are you dismounting/mounting up every time you snag one?
[QUOTE=ChocoMare;4007092]
Are the cards usually grab-able from the saddle or are you dismounting/mounting up every time you snag one?[/QUOTE]
It depends. Some rides are better thought out than others. I went on one with a green horse where the cards were in plastic grocery bags - not gonna happen!
The rides I go on usually have 3-4 stops over the course of 3+ hours, so it’s not too bad if you have to mount/dismount.
The rides I’ve gone on are annual events and pretty well done. You can either pick a card from the saddle or dismount if you want to give your horse a break. Typically, there are several attendants at the station and you pick a card from a fanned deck that they’re holding. They’re all horse people, so if you’ve got a greenie someone is usually pretty good about stepping off to the side so you can pick your card without having a wreck in the middle of a mob if you don’t want to dismount.
Since you’re obviously in a different area of the country, I’d give the organizers a call and ask how they do things. They’re usually pretty friendly. The rides I go on are all benefits for clubs and charities, so everyone is very friendly and interested in bringing in new participants.
The poker rides I have done usually have the cards sealed in envelopes that you retrieve from some kind of container(don’t have to dismount). Usually have 4 cards on the trail and then pick one when you return. The cards have to remain sealed until ride clerk opens and records. They are a fun ride. I am going to one next weekend and camping over the night before.
Yup, this is how the ones I’ve attended are done. They usually staple cut-open milk jugs to marker posts with the envelopes inside the container. And one time, they got tricky and filled a few of the milk jugs with NO cards, but carrots!! The horses learned that the milk jugs were evil things with those.
And, in one ride, the cards were numbered for each “stop”, so you had to stay on trail and do the whole thing… you couldn’t just grab 5 envelopes/cards from one bucket! LOL…
Another ride I know of, you grab pieces of surveyors tape, or bits of paper, or tokens and then turn them in for cards when you return.
I’ve gone out in small groups - 4 - 6 horses with riders. If one person has a horse that won’t go close, we usually help them by getting a card for them.
I went on one this past fall and it was GREAT! So much fun! The way they did it was there was a set path along the trail (the park was HUGE and it’s VERY EASY to get lost). They set ribbons in trees so you could easily identify the trail. At 5 different spots along the trail, you found feed buckets tied to the tree. Inside the buckets were envelopes with a card in each one. You take one card and keep going. Easier said than done. Some horses were actually SPOOKING at the buckets! Are you kidding me?! This is what you knuckleheads are fed out of everyday and you’re spooking?! LOL Sierra (of course) was sticking her head in looking for grain! Anywho, after we got the last card, we headed back, cooled out our horses and went to turn in our cards. If anyone was missing a card, there were extra envelopes so that the rider could make up the rest of their hand. Then all the envelopes were opened in front of the rider and cards marked down. Whoever has the best hand wins. I was so bummed because I was one card away from a straight flush! Would’ve won it hands down!
This is sounding more and more fun! Is it mostly walk/trot or what’s the general pace?
I’m not too worried about Penny and buckets. She sees one and ZOOOM her nose is in it fully expecting yummies. :lol:
It’s whatever pace you and your group decide on… typically a little walking, a little trotting, maybe some brief canters … but it’s not like a hunter pace where you need to do it within a certain time.
It’s a lot of fun 
Take whatever pace you need to go. I know when we have poker rides we have a short route and a longer route for the horses that are in better shape
The poker ride I took part in had a rule w/t only and if you were behind a walking group and wanted to trot past, you had to slow down, pass at the walk and then pick it up again once you were well clear of the walking group. There were some who picked up a little bit of a canter when no other horses were around, but it really wasn’t allowed. The pace, however, is set by the people who run the poker ride and they’ll let you know what’s allowed.
Unfortunately, in our area, the poker rides tend to attract some real yahoos. You know, the kind who gallop through the “walk your horse only” areas, who push ahead of you on the trail and think its funny when your horse takes off as they gallop up behind you or take off ahead of you. Not saying its the beer in their saddle bags or anything, 'cos I don’t get that way with a wobbly pop or two…
I went on one with a well schooled horse and was only mildly irritated by the rude behavior. The second ride I did with a pretty seasoned trail horse, who unfortunately had never been in a large group. The start had about 50 horses and if they’d all be quiet, standing or walking, in the gathering area, we’d’ve been fine. However, the yahoos got bored waiting for their start time and went galloping repeatedly through the saddling area back and forth between their trailer and the start, while I was trying to saddle up. That set her off and I was never able to get the saddle on until the entire are had quieted down half an hour later, and had let the rest of my group go on. It was not much fun riding alone and last.
I hate when people do that… anywhere… even for gymkhanna events… warm up in the warm up area… not where ever you happen to be standing. jackasses
sorry your trail experiances have been so bad… we aren’t all like that!!! -
I know, but one does need to be prepared in case they show up at your ride… I gleaned several good hints to give as suggestions for the group that does the poker rides here- one is to disqualify anyone found disobeying the posted speed limits, so to speak. The other is to seal all the cards in envelopes with numbers on them. Quite a number of people in groups were found to have traded cards with their friends in order to get a winning hand ( the top prize was a new saddle worth thousands!). That would prevent it.
As we ride in a public multi use city park, there is more at stake than just my horse being upset. Other non horsey park users constantly complain about the “danger” that horses present to pedestrians. I didn’t believe it, because I thought most horsemen were polite and respectful, but there is no way those gallopers could’ve stopped if they’d come upon say, a baby stroller on the trail in front of them around a corner. They will eventually get us banned from the park.
Some around here have you draw all cards at beginning…speeds things up but ruins some of the fun…
Chocomare-
Did you go on the poker ride? If you did how was it?
Christina
Nope. Didn’t think I was up to doing something alone just yet. Instead SBT came over to ride yesterday afternoon. All was great until…
We were approaching the return to the farm entrance at a brisk trot, when Tank lost sight of Penny and wanted to gallop. Ummmm, homey ain’t up to galloping on 17.3 hands of Percheron, so I pulled her up. She got mad, threw in a crow hop right as a biker WHIZZED by and she spooked at the same time. I went up about a foot off her back and hit hard: right knee, hip, shoulder and my head. Oomph.
Layed there a while catching my breath and waiting for my right calf muscle to uncramp. Got up and SBT (Sara) had turned around, dismounted and caught Tank for me. She remounted Penny. There’s no way this 5’ 6" fat old lady was able to remount 17.3 Tank without a bench or giant rock. Of course, no such aid was in sight.
Since we were just off the farm, I walked back with T over 18 acres of hay field. Probably was a good thing. It kept me loose.
So spent the evening icing my three worst parts and rubbing in copious amounts of Sore No More. Am very thankful to God that a) we were near the farm; b) I landed on the grass, NOT the concrete path; c) I had my helmet on and d) wasn’t seriously injured.
Soooo, off to find me a new IRH helmet. I loff them.
Thank god you were not seriously hurt!!! I hope your muscles hurry up and heal. I can’t imagine falling off one of your bigguns!
Christina
