HORSIN' AROUND
RIDE & TIES AND EQUATHONS ULTIMATE ENDURANCE RACE, RIDERS, HORSES AND OPEN SKIES
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Written by: Kym Rouse Holzwart
he first Ride & Tie race was on a 25-mile course in California in June 1971. Bud Johns, the public relations director for Levi Stauss & Co., wanted to hold a difficult outdoor event to promote the company’s rugged clothing (the cash prize doubled if both participants competed in Levi’s jeans). Bud got the idea for the event from reading about how two men with only one horse between them traveled fairly long distances efficiently in Europe and in this country during the 1800s and early 1900s. They traded off riding and walking to make it easier for both them and the horse. One man would ride ahead on the horse, tie it off and continue on foot. The other man would reach the rested horse and ride until he had passed the first man.
Today’s Ride & Tie races are an endurance event combining trail running, horseback riding and strategy. Teams of two runners and one horse, pony, or mule at least 5 years old complete courses of various distances. One person starts riding the horse, the other on foot. After an arranged time or distance has passed (where the strategy comes in), the rider ties the horse to a tree and starts running. The first runner reaches the horse, unties it and begins riding the trail. When the rider reaches the runner, they can either switch, or the rider can pass the runner, tying the horse to a tree farther down the trail. The teams continue to alternate running and riding for the entire distance.
This process would repeat over and over until the two men and one horse reached their destination, arriving in better shape than if both had ridden the horse or if they had walked the entire distance.
According to the rules of the Ride & Tie Association, there must be at least six exchanges of the horse between rider and runner, but there is no upper limit. At least two exchanges must take place between each required horse
Ride & Ties and Equathons are endurance races combining trail running, horseback riding, and strategy.
THE FIRST RUNNER REACHES THE HORSE, UNTIES IT AND BEGINS RIDING THE TRAIL. 18
Ride & Tie races are now all over the country, including Florida, and the 50th annual championship is in California in July.
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