Ride Leader - Community Service

Some time ago we got tapped to lead a trail ride in the park closest to our house. We should know the trails, right? You'd be wrong. We get misplaced frequently in this park, not because it is so big, but because it has numerous trails going this way and that, but leading nowhere, or into someone's back yard.

In years past we have spent, literally, days clearing trails - some tasks done 'illegally.' In our parks we are not allowed to use mechanized devices or chemicals to clear trails, only hand tools.

Confessing to using lawn mower, weed-whacker, Weed-Be-Gone, Round-Up, a pole-trimmer, various chain saws, hedge trimmers, etc., besides hand nippers, pruners, and saws. All to no long-lasting conclusion. The non-native plants continue to come back, better than ever.

The weekend before the scheduled ride we mapped out and rode the planned route. It was slow going because we had to trim, tag, hack, saw, and prune our way through, sometimes trimming the wrong path and having to re-tag the intersections.

He then did almost half the route the following day, on foot, to straighten out a lot of our handi-work, using a battery-operated chain saw. Don't tell anyone.

I am always anxious about my duties as a ride leader, my most favorite job was as a ride leader at a lesson barn, but it doesn't pay enough to actually support you, so now I push a desk around for income. I also know that it isn't always fun; I could tell you stories of melt-downs, parental interference, equipment failure, and extenuating circumstances.

On this day there are two rides: both have the ride out time as 10:00 a.m. One is slated to be 'walk only' for a 2-hour duration. Our ride is 4 hours, with lunch on the trail, walk-trot-canter. That is precisely where it fell apart.

We got up early, being the selfless volunteers that we are, and arrived more than a half hour before ride time. I signed us both in, filling out the necessary paper work for the Coggins verifications. We tacked up, ready to ride 15 minutes before we have to go.

The ride coordinator had tea and donuts for the group, and there are other riders there, not part of any group. The cow pasture was filling up with rigs. I allow KC to graze, he brakes for clover. No one says anything about him or me not wearing a helmet.

The ride coordinator confirms we have four riders joining our group. That is a manageable amount, and only two horses are gaited, all the riders are women. We proceed into the woods at the bottom corner of the cow pasture, along the planted watershed Pines and Maples. Following our green-tagged route, he's serving as the drag rider, I turn right down the gradual hill, looking back to make sure everyone is on the flat and cluck to KC to trot. This is the precise instant I should have stopped and asked her to hurry back to join the walk-only group. Right then. I didn't.

She had said that the walk-only ride was too short, she wanted to get her green horse more miles, and he walks too fast to go with the walk-only group. They all would be trotting to keep up with his walking-horse walk. When I started trotting she squealed out in protest, wanted then to go first, and passed me without asking. She said she had worked too hard on this horse to have him ruined with this trail ride. She wasn't familiar with the trails, so there you have it. Some people just get what they want, by being a bully or presumptive. She never asked, anyone, if this was ok.

She should have joined the other group, gone alone, or gone home. The most unfortunate revelation was finding out she is the defacto president of one of the organized groups that was sponsoring this ride. O boy.

She continued to sand-bag or otherwise slow us down and she continually hung on this poor horse's mouth the entire four-hour ride. She couldn't relax and she wasn't going to let him, either. We really were hoping this 'fast' ride would have weeded out the fearful horsewomen, but it did not.