Please, folks, DO NOT let Jeanne's inaccurate description
of CTR fool you. She could not be farther from the truth by calling it a
"horse show in the woods" or that the distances are only 25 - 30 miles. I
compete in 2 day NATRC rides and we do 60 miles over the 2 days. Generally
35-38 on the first day and the balance on the 2nd. In NATRC, there is an
element called "trail manners" that has a small percentage of weight in the
overall evaluation of each horse but conditioning, metabolics, soundness, etc
are more heavily weighted. We are very interested in sane and sound horses and
one way to assess saneness is to ask that a horse complete certain trail
related tasks. The judges are educated to offer "natural to the
trail" obstacles or observations such as safely negotiating a deep water
crossing without refusing, rushing, bucking, rearing or dumping its
rider.
Jonni could jump in here as she does both NATRC and AERC
rides. I think one thing which significantly validates the education and
conditioning from participating in CTR is the high completion rate of NATRC
riders who attempt Tevis even if they have limited or no endurance
experience.
. A CTR is a "horse show in the woods" -- a great
training ground to learn things like pacing, trotting out your horse for the
vet, being organized and arriving with a well turned out horse and rider, all
things that winning CTR riders learn to do, and a lot of endurance riders have
forgotten. Just remember that, as in horse showing, much of the judging in CTR
is subjective,
