Competitive Trail Riding

Northern Virginia and Maryland are a hotbed for judged pleasure rides.

By Jessica @ HorseGirlTV, September 19, 2007

At 10 miles in length, 75+ horses and riders turn out each scheduled weekend for a judged pleasure ride event and compete for the Crystal Crown award. What is a judged pleasure ride? What is the Crystal Crown? Learn more and maybe organize your own ride in your hometown! These events are great for bomb proofing or just getting out of the ring and doing something new and exciting with your horse. A judged pleasure ride also makes riding for the whole family enjoyable with picnic lunch afterwards.

Each spring and fall local riding clubs throughout Virginia and Maryland join together and host the Crystal Crown series rides, or just rides for fun. Each ride whether in the Crystal Crown series or not, is 10 miles in length with 10 judged obstacles along the way. Riders mount up and depart at 5 to 10 minute intervals to allow spacing along the trail system. Everyone is provided with a map and a list of titled obstacles which they must complete in 60 seconds. At the end of the ride, a picnic lunch is either provided or participants brown bag it and stay and chat about the day's ride.

The Crystal Crown is the award given at the end of the season to the horse and rider team with the most points. Each obstacle is worth 10 points and must be completed within the time limit with no hesitations or multiple tries for a full score. The total possible score is a 100 at each event and thru the season points are tallied and saved. At the close of the season, the team with the most points is awarded the Crystal Crown, and holds the title for one year, until the next season of trail rides begins.

Obstacles are varied and can get exciting for both the horse and rider. Many test the horse's ability to handle scary situations while others are designed to test the horse and rider team's ability to problem solve from horse back by asking the team to complete a task that may be necessary in a real non-competitive situation. These obstacles can include mailing letters in a mailbox, trail first aid, or simple crossing of a wide creek or stream. Each obstacle must be completed confidently, quickly and with no spooking in order to receive a full score of 10 points.

Other more "bombproofing" obstacles are designed to test the horse's ability to handle really scary situations with poise. An example of a more challenging obstacle is "the bottle drag". Five to eight large empty plastic bottles (2 liter coke or laundry detergent bottles) are tied to the end of a 15 foot rope and the team is asked to drag the bottles behind them as they navigate through a course of traffic cones. The noise and action of dragging the bottles is the difficult part of the test. Another example of a more difficult bombproofing obstacle is a "cooler race". Here, a plastic igloo or similar cooler is filled with three or four empty soda or beer cans, then 3 or 4 shiny helium balloons are tied to the handle of the cooler. The team is asked to ride up the cooler, take it from the top of a trash can, and trot thru a course of barrels, like a barrel race, and return the cooler to the top of the trash can. A horse must be able to listen the banging empty cans inside the cooler as well as handle the helium balloons flying behind as the course is completed.

Other events include more "natural" obstacles. These are geared to simulate real situations trail riders experience while out on trail. An example is the navigation of "groundhog holes". This obstacle is simulated using about 15 old tires laid out on the ground, sides touching each other. The horse is to quickly and quietly pick his way through the tires without racing or spooking. Another obstacle made to simulate real trail situations is the "blocked trail". Here, several branches (or poles in a riding ring to practice) are strewn about the trail, crisscrossing and overtop one another at different heights. The team is to pick their way through the branches without touching a single one for a full score.

Many of the obstacles these clubs organize seem to be easy at first sight, but experienced judged pleasure riders know that any horse can surprise his owner by being unwilling to complete the "simplest" of tasks or will just miss a full score by needing to try two or three times to complete the obstacle. These rides are a fun way to test your horse's ability to listen to your aids and see how much trust your horse really has in the tasks you ask them to accomplish. Happy trails!