Hi Nina:
I was the one in the happy little group riding the dark brown
Trakehner (Shirley Dennis on Faust). I realized afterwards that that piece
of trail must have been marked by someone approaching from the opposite
direction as the turn ribbon was visible once we had turned around and gone
back but could not be seen from the correct direction. This was evident by
the fact that the whole ride coming behind us made the same mistake.
It is so frustrating to ride strongly out near the front, only to
get held up by this kind of problem and then have the whole ride catch up
with you once you have found the correct turn. I agree with you that we
need an even playing field - our horses had worked hard to maintain a good
lead - only to be overtaken by many others who had not been lost and who had
not been working as hard - our horses were now disadvantaged.
I agree with Tina in general about the lack of trail markings and
had the same feeling of uneasiness in the first section with the lack of
markings but optimistically thought that it would be marked before we
returned. Not so - I found myself following hoof prints which in my opinion
is totally unacceptable.
I was also at the Wolverine ride in Michigan last August and would
have to say that I also found that to be best marked trail that I have
experienced.
Here in Ontario we tend to use Blue ribbon for left turns, with blue
and white together to indicate a left turn is coming up, red ribbon for
right turns with red and white together to indicate a right turn is coming
up and plain white for straight ahead. This system works well and most of
the time you can figure out if you are going in the proper direction.
It had been twelve years since the last time I had ridden the OD,
and the memories still lingered on but back then I do not remember any
problems, just a gentler trail. The OD is a memorable adventure and its
challenges will surely call me back - however it would be nice to know that
every effort was being made to avoid these difficulties from happening again.
Shirley Dennis and Faust (the big dark brown Trakehner)
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Shirley Dennis sdennis@hookup.net
The Warren Group,
Toronto, Ontario.
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