Ride and Tie???

When Toby Keith sang about wanting to be a working westerner in his classic melody “Should Have Been a Cowboy,” his yearning for living the lifestyle of one who wears a ten gallon hat came from the fact that he never learned how to “rope and ride.”

Toby Keith forgot about the running
part of being a cowboy. Running?

Perhaps he forgot the part about running.

Four local residents won’t have the same problem this weekend, as they will pair off and compete at the 43^rd Annual Ride and Tie World Championship in Ft. Bragg, California.

In fact, the teams of Mary Gibbs and Greg Brander, as well as Dave and Rhonda Venable, were the first two entries when the application process started on April 1^st. Gibbs is a Poquoson resident while Brander and the Venable’s hail from Yorktown.

Ride and Tie?

Before critiquing the roping and riding abilities of those involved, it helps to better understand the event.

As noted from its literature, the participants in Ride & Tie events race both on horses and under their own power, covering distances of 20 to 100 miles. The Championship in Ft. Bragg (located in upper California, four hours north of San Francisco by car) is a 35-mile race, noted for its ruggedness and breathtaking scenery.  The objective, as noted by the Ride & Tie Association, states:

"The goal is to get all three team members, two humans and one horse, across a cross-country course by alternating riding and running. The rider, being faster, rides ahead and ties the horse to a tree and then continues down the trail on foot. The team member who started out on foot gets to the horse, unties, mounts up, and rides past the runner, ties the horse...and this leapfrog continues over the entire course."

One unique aspect of the event comes from the strategy which each pair chooses to utilize. When, where, and how a team exchanges riding for running is almost entirely up to each duo, giving each team a signature characteristic.

There are other challenges, such as, the terrain. While the horses tend to maintain their balance and the humans are in above-average physical condition (Rhonda Venable is a former Peninsula Track Club president and Bethel High cross-country coach), there are plenty of opportunities for turned ankles and contact bumps. Straying off the beaten path can be nerve-wracking, especially after nightfall. During the Old Dominion Endurance Event, held last month in Orkney, VA, the evening race also included nighttime fog which Bradner said was "a little bit surreal. Distances got distorted and the trail was even more confusing." The athletes (and horses) had to rely on glow-sticks placed along the course by race planners.

While the Ride and Tie event is entrenched in its Western roots, the competition has become more popular in other parts of the world, mostly because of the attention given on social media, particularly Facebook, says Ride and Tie president Ben Volk. Volk adds that “we are still trying to get the word out via the American Endurance Ride Conference (AERC) and other worldwide equestrian websites.”

Additional information about Ride & Ties can be found at www.rideandtie.org.