North and South Carolina riders - hunter pace ride cancelled

[motorgypsy]

Lots of snow expected in NC so I imagine it will be cancelled.

FENCE is a facility set up for horses near Landrum SC just over the line into NC. It is a lovely mountain area with nice trails. A Hunter Pace ride will be held there this weekend on Sunday. You can go anytime from around 9 until 2 pm. There will be a vendor on hand to buy lunch from. These are great fun and not too demanding. There is no jumping unless you want to. All breeds and all attire attend these. They are well marked trails and the ride lasts from 1.5 to 3 hours depending on how fast you want to go. You can stop, walk, choose your speed. They send you out on the trail in groups of two or three but you can buddy up with more people if you want to on the trail.

[paintedhorizon]

What is a hunter pace?

You going to the ride at Diane's?

[motorgypsy]

We want to but it's a two and a half hour drive from our place. There's probably no way we can get there on time since we can't load until first light but we'll see. If the weather is fairly warm we may give it a try and just hang out if we're late???

[paintedhorizon]

How long does it take to load your horses? You could load the truck the day before.

If you left by 7:30 am, you could be there on time (I'm sure we'll be late again LOL).

So, what is a hunter pace?

[El Indio Elegante]

man i wish i could go it's only like an hour or less of a drive for us. Indio hasn't been ridden that much unfortunately b/c i would love to take him and practice jumping. I'm trying to get him up to 4 ft. by June so i can take him in to the state 4-h horse show. I'll prolly be going to croft a couple of times at 2ft and 2.6 ft. Don't know wut months though

[motorgypsy]

Hunter Pace is a six to 8 mile "trail ride" along a well marked path. It is a competition but not like a typical race or anything. There are two divisions, the Hunter division and the Trail division. The Hunter division rides at a hunt pace which is trot, canter. They will finish in about 1.5 hours so it ends up being about 6 miles an hour. The trail division usually takes two hours so about 4 miles an hour. There are jumps on the route but there is always a trail that goes right around the jump so you can avoid all of them if you want to.

You arrive anytime between 9 and 2 pm, register, pay the fee which ranges from $15 ato $25 per horse, tack up and go to the starting line. Most people wear helmets but you can sign a waiver so you don't have to. (Wear a helmet!) Riders are given instructions and sent out on the trail in groups of two or three at five minute intervals. The trails are very well marked. You travel at any speed you choose from a walk to a stop for a potty break, to a gallop.

If you are trying to win the competition you keep an eye on your watch because the winners for the hunter division are those in the group who cross the finish in the closest time to the time it took the hunt master to travel the trail. Before the ride the hunt master rides the trail and they time him. That's the time you're trying to match.

In the trail division the winning time is the average of the times of all the groups with the fastest and slowest group thrown out of the average. It just adds a little more fun to the ride to try to guess just how long you should take before you cross the finish line.

They are great fun and are ridden on really nice farms and other locations that are very beautiful. Any pasture horse can do a ride. I did one on Kalua and admittedly walked part of the way because it was pretty hilly, but she had been a mommy and hadn't been ridden in a couple of years and was fat and did fine. She did appreciate me walking beside her on the ground for the really steep hills. Lula and Chinook don't even act like they've been ridden the ride is so easy for them.

So come on up. It will be a bit chilly because this is the NC mountains but it will be gorgeous!!! It's great fun!!!!

[paintedhorizon]

Motor, they are calling for scattered showers all weekend.

[motorgypsy]

That is the pits. And this is the rain date for the hunter pace ride because it rained last weekend. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[echo]

Sounds fun, but we're expecting more SNOW, the ugly 4 letter word, tomorrow night. YUCK!!! :-?

[motorgypsy]

I heard - snow. It would be fun to ride in the snow but just around here. I don't want to trailer a horse in the snow. :-? :-? :-? :-? :-?