This whole scenario is a big
NO-NO. It is not allowed! The ride management may not have been
there on site when this started, but it should NEVER have happened.
The non-enrolled riders are not
insured under AERC, for example. There could be all kinds of bad
implications come out of this behavior. If that had been my ride, I would
have been very angry and would have removed the rider from the trail during the
event.
As long as I'm asking, I thought there was a rule against
non-participants riding along with people in competition, even in an LD.
I saw several people "pleasure riding" with their friends in
competition.
And the only reason it bothered me at this
ride is because one of those people was on a horse that was disqualified at
the check-in for dangerous behavior. So, the horse was deemed too unruly
to be in competition, but the person took it out on the trails with the rest
of us anyway.
