Greetings,
June 7, 2011 – Between Lake Maloney to near Roscoe Nebraska – Today we left Lake Maloney along the Nebraska Public Power District's Sutherland Canal. It was a beautiful breezy cool morning that gave way to a sunny and warm afternoon. Riding along the canal was pleasant and we had the halfway stop near the NPPD Gerald Gentleman power station. The Gentleman station is the largest coal-fired plant in Nebraska and generates almost 1400 MW out of two units.
A story about our trip was published in the Superior Nebraska paper after the end of our first week of riding:
_________________________
Riders retracing Pony Express Trail
More than 30 combination horse trailer and camper rigs rolled into Oak Saturday afternoon in advance of the arrival of a group of riders retracing the Pony Express trail. Before all arrived for the night, the weekend population of the northeastern Nuckolls County town would be more than doubled. Vehicle tags indicated the rigs were from various states including Virginia, California, Missouri, Wyoming, North Carolina, Nevada, Alaska and even Australia.
Saturday was their fifth day on the trail and animals and riders were becoming used to the routine. In addition to the mounts, riders and crew, most of the rigs also contained dogs. The owners didn't say but the vigilant dogs have a vital role to play in such excursions. The dogs are often the first to notice something is amiss and alert their owners to a potential emergency. Each unit represented a rider with one of more horses or mules, the support crew and the related tack, hay, grain, housing, food and supplies for both people and animals.
The ride started near St. Joseph, Mo. Riders expect to travel 50 miles, five days each week for the next eight to 10 weeks or at about the speed the cavalry rode when white folks settled the plains.
But not all riders expect to ride the entire distance. Some ride on selected days, others only half a day. A woman from Wyoming who has been participating in such rides since the 1970s said it is her goal to ride the full 50 miles each day. A man from California said he would leave the ride for two weeks to attend to business and then return for the finish. A 71-year-old man said he was riding about one day a week. Riders range in age from 15 to 71.
The event is sanctioned by the AERC (American Endurance Ride Conference) which was founded in 1972 as a national governing body for long distance riding. In addition to promoting the sport of endurance riding, the AERC encourages the use, protection and development of trails, especially those with historic significance such as the Pony Express Trail.
David Nicholson, the ride coordinator, is a semi - retired veterinarian from Alaska. A club started in 1976 was an outgrowth of the Great American Horse Race which went from New York to California.
"I was in-between jobs and part of a trail ride that fell apart in Hannibal, Mo. In 1976, during the bicentennial year, a small group of endurance riders set out from St. Joseph in an attempt to ride to Sacramento on the original Pony Express trail. At that time there were no maps of the original route.
"We could not find much about specific trail routes. Mom had Sir Richard Burton's book, 'On the Road to the City of Saints.' With 15 riders we rode as far as we could figure out the trail and then would stop and study until we could move on.
"Two years later (1975?), a trail map was published. It was a great help," he said.
"In 1979, the British post office sponsored a second endurance ride over the historic Pony Express trail to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Sir Roland Hill, the inventor of the modern postage stamp. So we did it again.
"However, at times there have been attempts by the Federal government to destroy the trail, especially between Salt Lake and Carlson City. Dessert entry points where plowed and graded. In the 1970s, it was decided one of the best ways to preserve the historic trails was to ride the trails with horses. So for a number of years, we organized five-day endurance rides along the Pony Express trail in Utah and Nevada. The club grew and in 2001, riders wanted to ride once again all the way from St. Joseph to Virginia City.
"Most riders join because they want to see the country," Nicholson continued.
Endurance riding is a sport. People interested learn about the ride through horse related magazines.
To participate in endurance competition a horse must be at least five years old.
"There are several 5,000 mile horses on this ride and a 10,000 mile horse or two," Nicholson said.
Younger horses in training are considered to be ducks. Some days they are ridden till lunch and other days after lunch, but not all 50 miles. On this ride veterinarians check the health of the horses at least twice a day. The tests including monitoring and recording temperatures. The riders are on their own.
Most of the horses used for endurance riding have Arabian bloodlines. The Arabian was bred to be a war horse. They are lightly muscles with big circulatory systems - built like marathon runners versus the quarter horse which is build like a weight lifter. Training makes up for lots, so there are other breeds represented.
A major source of the horses for endurance riding are rejects from the Rush Creek Land and Cattle Company. The ranch management doesn't let many go, only ones that aren't cowy (ones without good cow sense). Because the ranch is so large, they host ranch trials, which were a forerunner of the endurance ride.
As one travels west, endurance riding becomes more common. There is more varied terrain and people find endurance riding as a great way to see places.
AERC establishes a point system for weigh division. Best conditioned horses earn the most important awards: the first horse across the finish line in condition to go on as determine by a set of criteria which include heart rate recovery time and lameness. The sport is controlled by veterinarians. Points are totally daily but one of the long term riders said it is more of a personal competition and not a group contest. Riders set their own goals and then used the points to measure their accomplishment.
Two Express reporters were present for the Saturday evening trail meeting. At that meeting participants compared notes and made plans for the next day.
Before starting out the rider manager distributed GPS coordinates for the day, but the riders said their GPS systems didn't work in the heavy rains encountered on the first part of the ride. Many had to rely on printed maps and some became lost. Detours were taken when the planned trail became muddy and the horses couldn't get traction. Rig drivers became stuck and had to be towed. At least one bridge was washed out causing the riders to seek an alternative route.
One participant reported he became concerned when his wife was late in reaching camp. He set out with their pickup and trailer hoping to locate her. He was following her GPS signal when the road became impassable. Stuck he was wondering what to do next when his wife rode up. With her help, they unloaded their horses and the truck with a lighter load was able to make it back to a better road.
Another rider commented having a stiff neck for two days and riding hunched over in the downpour.
Most riders carry rain gear but they said it didn't do much good in Tuesday's downpour. One said she also carried both people and horse food and a sponge. Why a sponge? To air conditioned her horse. Without dismounting the rider lowers the rope equipped sponge to a mud puddle, collects the cooling water and then sponges down her horse.
Often a rider's spouse serves as crew. In some cases two people were taking turns riding and crewing. In other cases the rider had a hired crew. Crew members are responsible for moving the support vehicles and often run errands and arrange for feed and other supplies.
Saturday many of the crew members came to Superior and participated in part of the festival. Sunday and Monday more returned to buy supplies and visit the Nuckolls County Museum. Most we talked with reported they wanted to investigate the history of the areas they would pass through.
Four participants, two men with the wives, are from Australia. They had purchased their horses and rigs after coming to the United States and planned to ship the trailer home once the ride is finished.
At Saturday's trail meeting it was reported the ride had covered 250 miles and eight people had ridden the entire way.
____________________
Best Regards,
Tom N
June 7, 2011 – Between Lake Maloney to near Roscoe Nebraska – Today we left Lake Maloney along the Nebraska Public Power District's Sutherland Canal. It was a beautiful breezy cool morning that gave way to a sunny and warm afternoon. Riding along the canal was pleasant and we had the halfway stop near the NPPD Gerald Gentleman power station. The Gentleman station is the largest coal-fired plant in Nebraska and generates almost 1400 MW out of two units.
A story about our trip was published in the Superior Nebraska paper after the end of our first week of riding:
_________________________
Riders retracing Pony Express Trail
More than 30 combination horse trailer and camper rigs rolled into Oak Saturday afternoon in advance of the arrival of a group of riders retracing the Pony Express trail. Before all arrived for the night, the weekend population of the northeastern Nuckolls County town would be more than doubled. Vehicle tags indicated the rigs were from various states including Virginia, California, Missouri, Wyoming, North Carolina, Nevada, Alaska and even Australia.
Saturday was their fifth day on the trail and animals and riders were becoming used to the routine. In addition to the mounts, riders and crew, most of the rigs also contained dogs. The owners didn't say but the vigilant dogs have a vital role to play in such excursions. The dogs are often the first to notice something is amiss and alert their owners to a potential emergency. Each unit represented a rider with one of more horses or mules, the support crew and the related tack, hay, grain, housing, food and supplies for both people and animals.
The ride started near St. Joseph, Mo. Riders expect to travel 50 miles, five days each week for the next eight to 10 weeks or at about the speed the cavalry rode when white folks settled the plains.
But not all riders expect to ride the entire distance. Some ride on selected days, others only half a day. A woman from Wyoming who has been participating in such rides since the 1970s said it is her goal to ride the full 50 miles each day. A man from California said he would leave the ride for two weeks to attend to business and then return for the finish. A 71-year-old man said he was riding about one day a week. Riders range in age from 15 to 71.
The event is sanctioned by the AERC (American Endurance Ride Conference) which was founded in 1972 as a national governing body for long distance riding. In addition to promoting the sport of endurance riding, the AERC encourages the use, protection and development of trails, especially those with historic significance such as the Pony Express Trail.
David Nicholson, the ride coordinator, is a semi - retired veterinarian from Alaska. A club started in 1976 was an outgrowth of the Great American Horse Race which went from New York to California.
"I was in-between jobs and part of a trail ride that fell apart in Hannibal, Mo. In 1976, during the bicentennial year, a small group of endurance riders set out from St. Joseph in an attempt to ride to Sacramento on the original Pony Express trail. At that time there were no maps of the original route.
"We could not find much about specific trail routes. Mom had Sir Richard Burton's book, 'On the Road to the City of Saints.' With 15 riders we rode as far as we could figure out the trail and then would stop and study until we could move on.
"Two years later (1975?), a trail map was published. It was a great help," he said.
"In 1979, the British post office sponsored a second endurance ride over the historic Pony Express trail to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Sir Roland Hill, the inventor of the modern postage stamp. So we did it again.
"However, at times there have been attempts by the Federal government to destroy the trail, especially between Salt Lake and Carlson City. Dessert entry points where plowed and graded. In the 1970s, it was decided one of the best ways to preserve the historic trails was to ride the trails with horses. So for a number of years, we organized five-day endurance rides along the Pony Express trail in Utah and Nevada. The club grew and in 2001, riders wanted to ride once again all the way from St. Joseph to Virginia City.
"Most riders join because they want to see the country," Nicholson continued.
Endurance riding is a sport. People interested learn about the ride through horse related magazines.
To participate in endurance competition a horse must be at least five years old.
"There are several 5,000 mile horses on this ride and a 10,000 mile horse or two," Nicholson said.
Younger horses in training are considered to be ducks. Some days they are ridden till lunch and other days after lunch, but not all 50 miles. On this ride veterinarians check the health of the horses at least twice a day. The tests including monitoring and recording temperatures. The riders are on their own.
Most of the horses used for endurance riding have Arabian bloodlines. The Arabian was bred to be a war horse. They are lightly muscles with big circulatory systems - built like marathon runners versus the quarter horse which is build like a weight lifter. Training makes up for lots, so there are other breeds represented.
A major source of the horses for endurance riding are rejects from the Rush Creek Land and Cattle Company. The ranch management doesn't let many go, only ones that aren't cowy (ones without good cow sense). Because the ranch is so large, they host ranch trials, which were a forerunner of the endurance ride.
As one travels west, endurance riding becomes more common. There is more varied terrain and people find endurance riding as a great way to see places.
AERC establishes a point system for weigh division. Best conditioned horses earn the most important awards: the first horse across the finish line in condition to go on as determine by a set of criteria which include heart rate recovery time and lameness. The sport is controlled by veterinarians. Points are totally daily but one of the long term riders said it is more of a personal competition and not a group contest. Riders set their own goals and then used the points to measure their accomplishment.
Two Express reporters were present for the Saturday evening trail meeting. At that meeting participants compared notes and made plans for the next day.
Before starting out the rider manager distributed GPS coordinates for the day, but the riders said their GPS systems didn't work in the heavy rains encountered on the first part of the ride. Many had to rely on printed maps and some became lost. Detours were taken when the planned trail became muddy and the horses couldn't get traction. Rig drivers became stuck and had to be towed. At least one bridge was washed out causing the riders to seek an alternative route.
One participant reported he became concerned when his wife was late in reaching camp. He set out with their pickup and trailer hoping to locate her. He was following her GPS signal when the road became impassable. Stuck he was wondering what to do next when his wife rode up. With her help, they unloaded their horses and the truck with a lighter load was able to make it back to a better road.
Another rider commented having a stiff neck for two days and riding hunched over in the downpour.
Most riders carry rain gear but they said it didn't do much good in Tuesday's downpour. One said she also carried both people and horse food and a sponge. Why a sponge? To air conditioned her horse. Without dismounting the rider lowers the rope equipped sponge to a mud puddle, collects the cooling water and then sponges down her horse.
Often a rider's spouse serves as crew. In some cases two people were taking turns riding and crewing. In other cases the rider had a hired crew. Crew members are responsible for moving the support vehicles and often run errands and arrange for feed and other supplies.
Saturday many of the crew members came to Superior and participated in part of the festival. Sunday and Monday more returned to buy supplies and visit the Nuckolls County Museum. Most we talked with reported they wanted to investigate the history of the areas they would pass through.
Four participants, two men with the wives, are from Australia. They had purchased their horses and rigs after coming to the United States and planned to ship the trailer home once the ride is finished.
At Saturday's trail meeting it was reported the ride had covered 250 miles and eight people had ridden the entire way.
____________________
Best Regards,
Tom N
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