Love Hiking and Horses? Try Ride & Tie
I always say that when living in Colorado you enjoy one of two outdoor activities: snow skiing or horseback riding. This site will cover a lot about snow skiing, but I wouldn’t be paying homage to “all things Colorado” if I didn’t include a section on one of the most incredibly fun things to do for horse enthusiasts as well. And that’s Ride & Tie.So, what exactly is this Ride & Tie thing, you ask. To borrow from the Association’s definition, it is an endurance race, run on trails and cross-country, generally 20 to 40 miles or more in length, involving teams of one horse/two humans, competing against 10 to 50 other like teams. The humans alternate riding the horse a mile or so, tying it to a tree, and taking off running, while the other human catches up to the horse, unties it and rides past the other human, and so on. The human teammates are mixed or matched pairs: young, old, female, male, fast and not-so-fast, all racing the same course. They work closely with each other and their equine teammate throughout the race, including mandatory veterinary checkpoints.The bottom line is that both trail runners and endurance riders find the sport to be both exhilarating and challenging. Beyond the physical challenge there is the mental challenge of strategy with both being wrapped in an adrenaline rush of competition. And when finishing the event, you never finish alone it’s the team of three (yes, the horse’s efforts count as much if not more than human efforts).The climate and terrain of Colorado make excellent training grounds for any Ride & Tie event held across the country, so if you’re a runner and know someone with a horse, or a horseperson that aligns yourself with a runner, you might give serious consideration to taking up this ultimate test of endurance. In closing, we again borrow from the Ride and Tie Association’s governing statement:It’s about competition, teamwork, and strategy, It’s about understanding, tolerance, and empathy. It’s about taking care of your partners one humanOne equine and pushing yourself.Hard. It’s about having fun.