How Low Can You Go?

Sunday September 19 2010

Depends on if you're marking trail with ribbons before an endurance ride, or if you're pulling ribbons after an endurance ride.

If you're pulling ribbons after a ride, it's easier. As you lean way down off the side of your horse, you just have to get two fingers on a ribbon to be able to yank it off the branch. You can hang onto your horse with your other hand, so you can lean a long way down.


(Connie actually fell off here : )

If you're marking trail, it becomes a little more challenging. Unless you are gifted with the talent of tying a ribbon with one hand (I am not), you've got to use 2 hands to do it. And if the bush is short, you have to lean way over your horse to one side, with both hands. Nothing to hold onto, all your weight in the one stirrup, and a lot of balance, and a horse who stands still and braces himself against the weight shift.

Here Carol ties a ribbon on a Granny Bush on her Granny Horse (tall bush, short horse.)


They said I was the youngster of the group and I had longer arms so I had to do the shorter bushes. Jose was good about me leaning way over.

Karen Bumgarner photo

Can your horses do this - stand still while you pull or hang ribbons, lean way over in the saddle? It's great training.

(And that's all the trail marking I get to do for the 5-day Owyhee Canyonlands endurance ride on September 28 to October 2. I'm off to Kentucky to cover the World Endurance Championship at the World Equestrian Games.)