American River Endurance Ride

By Ed Seider

This April, the American River Endurance Ride was held for the 33rd consecutive year. It is one of the oldest continuously held endurance rides in the country. As always, the ride traverses the American River from Folsom to Auburn and includes a very challenging mix of trail conditions, especially after this year’s rains. A few sections of the trail were still very wet and muddy and a lot of horses lost shoes in the thick muck. Fortunately, mine was not one of them. Other sections, while dry, were still quite challenging. There were rocky, single-track trails that required close attention from both horse and rider. There were narrow wooden bridges that went over swiftly flowing streams in the woods. There were several steep climbs on the way into Auburn, including one known as Cardiac Hill. And along the way, there were wide open meadows brimming with colorful wildflowers and views of Folsom Lake that provided a much needed respite from the more difficult parts of the trail.

In the past, there have been over 200 riders at this event, but this year there were only about 80 riders competing in three different distances: 30, 50 and 70 miles. Many people attributed the relatively low turnout to the recent rains. The wet weather made it hard to get the horses out on conditioning rides so many people apparently decided to forgo the ride this year.

For the second year in a row, I did the 30-mile ride, which is officially known as a Limited Distance ride. Only rides of 50 miles or more are classified as endurance rides by the American Endurance Ride Conference (AERC) and count towards horse and rider endurance mileage totals. Like everybody else, I was slowed by the weather at the beginning of the year but for the 30-mile ride, my 18-year-old Morgan gelding Sky and I were more than ready.

Last year when I did this ride with Sky, I had only had him a few months. We were still trying to figure each other out and he was not at all convinced I was worthy of being allowed on his back. Likewise, I wasn’t completely sure that he’d come with a full set of brain cells given some of his antics on the trail and around the barn. All it took was an unfamiliar rock or branch out on the trail and after tricking me into thinking he was going to walk right past it, he would suddenly do the best jack rabbit imitation you’ve ever seen a horse do.

At last year’s ride, I spent a lot of time in the air. Sky would much prefer to jump things rather than walk over or through them. Mud, streams, branches you name it, if he thought he could clear it he’d give it a shot. We were about 20 miles into the ride last year before he figured out that conserving his energy might just be a good idea and eventually he began employing the finesse that I knew he was capable of. It was also about this time that we made a pit stop to stretch the legs and munch on some snacks.

I was standing next to him on the ground eating what was left of a turkey sandwich and Sky was wolfing some fresh grass. I thought the situation was safe enough for me to let go of the reins, but I was wrong. After a few moments, he quickly did an about-face and began walking back down the trail from the direction we just came. I tried to catch him but as I trotted, he trotted and as I ran, he ran. Before I knew it, he’d turned the corner and was out of sight. In the span of a few seconds, I’d gone from happily snacking on a sandwich with my horse at my side, to being stranded on a rocky trail in riding boots I didn’t want to have to hike in and being very concerned about the welfare of my horse.

I continued to hoof it down the trail hoping my horse would magically appear but it just wasn’t happening. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I came around a corner and saw him nose down in the grass, tail swishing. He looked up and gave me a “where’ve you been” kind of look and resumed eating. Once I caught my breath, and my horse, we continued our pursuit of the finish which we eventually reached. I knew pretty much immediately that I’d just learned two valuable lessons: 1) never, ever let go of your horse on the trail no matter how calm things might seem and, 2) ride in comfortable shoes that you can hike in…just in case.

At this year’s ride, things went much smoother. The course was essentially the same but Sky is no longer so inclined to jump everything he sees and I have confidence that his athletic ability will get us safely to the other side of whatever obstacle the trail might present. After many hours and many miles with Sky during the past year, the level of trust between horse and rider has grown considerably. It took us about 6 hours riding time each year to do this ride so we didn’t get faster but we have gotten better. Among other things, Sky’s learned to conserve his energy on the trail and I’ve learned to eat lunch in the saddle: two very big improvements that should serve us well at the next ride. For now anyway, it will probably be another 30 miler. But no matter what the AERC chooses to call this type of ride, there’s nothing “limited” about spending an afternoon on the trail with your horse. Thanks Sky.

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