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I'm going to jump in with advice to R.M. who want to keep riders
from getting unhappy because they got lost. Since I get lost
easily I think I have a good complete list.
#1. If you are marking a section of trail that is common to several
loops BE CONSISTENT - if you are marking with all color flags do
not switch to just one color for more than one flag -preferably not at
all- and DO NOT MARK A TURN IN JUST ONE COLOR - especially if you have
told riders that one loop will split left or right from the other.
#2. Stress to riders how you applied your ribbons - especially if
you do something special like clothespins. Maybe you think it will
be obvious -but when you have excited horses &/or tired riders it is
easy to not think of this kind of thing - and especially in a public
area there can be enough stray flags to mislead people who will think
something like - well maybe they ran short of clothespins. Also if
you do not have any stretch of trail with ribbons less than .1 miles
apart stress this at the ride meetings so if somebody does get off
trail they should realize it quickly when they stop seeing ribbons.
#3. Use paper pie plates to indicate when loops split off and which
direction is start and end if you have a "cherry & stem" loop. and
STRESS to riders to look for the pie plates. (side note - try hard to
locate these plates where they wont get torn by the first horses. I
have seen a lot of torn pie plates, and I haven't done a whole lot
of rides. One of the best marked rides I've ridden was the Black Hill's
Ride: Paschal Karl had made big junction signs from hinged plywood with
18 inch long arrows - in the loop colors- pointing in the right directions for each loop.
#4. Arrows on the ground are also great to mark turns. It is very easy
to be riding along and watching the ground -especially if its rocky
and miss the ribbons for a turn. It is much harder to miss both
ribbons and an arrow (although it can be done by very good get-lost
people like myself.) Susan Schomberg always does a good job of marking
her trails with both ribbons and arrows (I still managed to miss a turn
once on one of her rides - could not imagine how I missed it when I
saw all the marking upon doubling back.)
I don't want to bash ride managers - I really appreciate all the work
they do, so now let me switch to advice to riders who have gotten lost.
Yelling at R.M. in the heat of moment will not do any good. - If a turn
was so badly marked that everybody got lost then you didn't lose any
more time than anyone else unless you were less on the ball and
didn't turn around as quick when you were off trail - We compete in
endurance rides -not track races- so if you lose a race on a faster
horse because you spent more time being lost that is part of the game.
If you (or the group you rode with) is the the only one who got lost
then the turn was not that badly marked; and again we do endurance
rides not races and staying on trail is part of the game if you
want to win.
If you think you have constructive suggestions as to how the trail
marking could have been better - do tell the R.M. in a friendly way -
perhaps with a note after the ride - They still have a lot of work
to do after you come in, so talking to them at the ride may not be the
best method. Even if you are calm and friendly they may have too much on
their minds to remember your suggestions.
It will not improve a ride for future years if you just gripe about
the trail markings to fellow riders; tell management nicely, and if
they do not improve things, go to another ride - the schedule has
multiple options on almost every single weekend.
Teresa and Grey Moun,
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