Pictures from the ride are available here: Cracked Oats Crunch endurance ride at Scioto state park in Ohio

Cracked Oats Crunch is an AERC sanctioned endurance ride. At this particular ride, FEI vets came to take random blood samples for drug testing. Although I would find it hard to believe that anyone would drug their horses for any reason at this level of endurance riding, you could see it happen that the national and international events where the competition is intense. At this level, the old slogan for endurance riding makes endurance riding as a sport a joy to the participants, “ To finish is to win”.

As you can see, Endurance riding is a sport that everyone can participate in. Amy Whalen is a ride manager for several rides each year. Shannon Loomis goes all over the region participating in rides with her daughter. These are two folks that I can almost always depend on seeing at every ride we participate in. Bringing along your kids into the sport helps the sport to expand and flourish for future generations. Not only that, but meeting a challenge together and with horses is very rewarding and brings lots of good personal character traits.

Pictures from the ride are available here: Cracked Oats Crunch endurance ride at Scioto state park in Ohio

Peter DeMott • Peter DeMott Photography • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222

Peter DeMott is also available for farm calls in the region. To find out more about having a farm call visit to your farm or to your boarding stable for portraits of you and your equine companion check out this link: Farm call photography in Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and SE Indiana

Related posts:

1. Cracked Oats Crunch Endurance & Ctr
2. This weekend (8/27-28, 2011) I am am at the Abi-Kahn Competitive Trail ride near Caesar’s Creek Park in Ohio
3. Chicken Chase Endurance Ride in Clark State Forest in Indiana

Outstanding ride management can help with a lot of things at an endurance ride, but with a heat index well over 100 degrees (temps in mid 90s with very high humidity) and combined with what is a challenging ride, this ride was difficult for many.

On day one, I took pictures of riders in the morning in heavy fog, then again at a water crossing until my wife Patty came through and indicated I needed to help her in the pit area.  (Sorry for those I missed at the water crossing on day one) She was concerned about being able to cool down her horse and also being able to manage our second horse (they are buddies) in the pulse and vet areas. Earlier that morning I had gone and picked up 6 bags of ice and filled our coolers. When Patty arrived with Merlot, the first bag of ice I put into the warm water disappeared almost as soon as I put it in. Bag two cooled the water and lasted long enough to start cooling down the horse in the pit area. Three bags of ice later, and almost out of time, we were finally ready to go to the pulse area and go through the vet check. As we looked around, we could see that everyone was having the same struggle. The vets checked core temperatures. By the end or the ride many had been pulled and several horses needed treatment by the vets for fluids.

Team effort / Extreme Heat at Endurance Ride

With so many having difficulty because of the heat and humidity, it seemed to me that there was a real team effort to help people out. Shannon Loomis who was the treatment vet on day one, brought out a very large fan and opened up her canopy (her daughter was riding) for anyone who was having trouble cooling their horse. People were sharing ice and making trips to the nearby convenience store for more. I told the store owner that we would probably buy out their entire supply, but she told me that she had another shipment arriving in the afternoon just for our ride. By the end of the weekend I had purchased 30 bags of ice for our horses and others.

On Trail / Volunteers / Well marketed trails / Water

There was lots of water on trail and Patty told me at one point that there was resting area with various grains, and a hose with cool water to spray off your horse and cool them down. Almost everyone took the time to get off to hose and cool their horses. Riders slowed things down and sponged their horses in the creeks and water crossings. Here is one rider’s description of the day. She rode the first day and was pit crewing for some friends on day two.

Day two was 6 degrees cooler in the morning with less humidity

On day two, the temp had gone down at least 6 degrees. The high humidity was much lower and there was clouds hiding the sun for most of the morning. My wife had downgraded to the 25 mile event rather than do another 50. She was glad she did. Although the morning was much cooler and less humid, by afternoon the sun was beating down again and things heated up again.

Now, for the photography from the event. Click on this link:

 Photography of Canter Over the Mountain 2011

Some water crossing photos

The water crossing provided good opportunity to cool the horses while on trail. Teaching your horse to allow you to sponge can be an important strategy at endurance rides. Patty (the middle rider in this first picture) tried out sponging and almost ended up dumped in the water, but the riders ahead and behind her were both sponging. Teaching her horses to allow sponging is one of her training goals.

Some of the horses found the photographer who was sitting in a fold up lawn chair along the shore of the creek to be quite interesting. I’ve learned to start talking and not be too still for too long to help the horse identify me as a human. It helps with ears up for sure though.

News about the heat of the weekend on the radio / Flooding the day after the event

This ride was on Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Patty and I left on Sunday late afternoon. “The hottest Labor Day weekend since 1913″ was one thing we heard on the radio has we drove home. On Sunday and Monday there were heavy rains in the area and much cooler temperatures, but Samantha (the ride manager) took pictures of this area and the water was close to the ribbons in the trees and was probably impassable. Here are a couple of photos from her Facebook page.

Here are a couple more video clips from the day. You can see the heat in their faces. Even with all the heat, people enjoyed the ride and the challenge:

Peter DeMott Photography • 937-478-6222 • peter@photosbypdemott.com

Check out some on the trail videos here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9RdBjwrD1I

Related posts:

1. Canter over the mountain endurance ride with portraits and fun water crossings 2010
2. Cracked Oats Crunch Endurance Ride at Scioto State Park in Ohio 2011
3. Scioto Endurance ride and competitive trail ride on June 25th and 26th, 2011

It was a one day ride, so were able to drive on Saturday and arrive in early afternoon. After Patty vetted-in and we set up the tent and paddock I stopped in to talk with Samantha and she took me to a couple of places that she thought would be great places to shoot from. As it turned out, I was able to use each place that she showed me. When we got back to camp, the light was getting good and I decided to offer some mini portrait sessions to those who were interested. They were able to announce this over the loudspeaker and I worked my way through the camp seeing who might be interested. I had several takers.

Carla Siebert Plezewski was delighted with the opportunity to do some portraits. I believe that she is considering making a wall sized canvas of one of these.

This portrait is Colleen Greene and her horse. She left before seeing her portraits when the ride ended, but she checked the proofing galleries online and immediately placed an order. She used one of the images as her new profile image on Facebook and then emailed me about all the comments she was getting about it. Thanks, Colleen, I love hearing about stuff like that. We did some portraits with her with her husband and dog as well.

I met Mustafa Tehrani, master farrier and was able to take some portraits of him and his trusty mount.

The 50 mile riders came through before the fog burned off, but I thought it made for some very interesting images. As soon as the sun burned off the fog, then light was from behind and too bright, so I moved to one of the stream crossings. I spent the rest of the morning sitting on the bank and catching all the riders as they passed by. Some were fun and others were scenic.

To see more of the trail and the portrait photos from this great event go to: http://pdemott.smugmug.com/Endurance-Competitive-Trail/Canter-Over-the-Mountain/13665356_e3R58#997745374_FvkQT

If you would like to schedule a fall portrait in the greater Dayton area, please call soon as available time slots are filling quickly. Thanks, Peter 937-478-6222

Related posts:

1. Canter Over the Mountain Endurance Ride in WV / Photography from the ride / 2011
2. Chicken Chase Pioneer Endurance Ride – Recap and photos 2010
3. Cracked Oats Crunch Endurance Ride at Scioto State Park in Ohio 2011

This year I have photographed far fewer endurance rides. Our youngest son is preparing to go to Xavier University as a freshman and our older son is preparing to spend fall semester (Miami University of Ohio) studying in Africa. Usually, I consider photographing rides that my wife Patty chooses to participate in during the spring, summer and fall. However with everything that has been going on, we have missed several that she had hoped to ride. Even so, I wanted to tell you about endurance riding if you are not familiar with it.

On this web site, if you go to PROOFING GALLERIES then click on Trail Events / Endurance & Competitive Trail it will take you to various galleries of endurance and competitive trail rides that I have photographed over the past several years. What you will see is people having a great time out in nature and with their trusted competitive partner (their horse of course). Now if you are out west the experience of endurance riding is completely different because the terrain is completely different. Each region of the country has something different to offer. In Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky we have many rides in national and state forests and many times that means that as a photographer I am looking for clearings and scenic spots to captures images of the riders as they pass by. Sometimes it is close to impossible to shoot at 6am and 7am when many of the rides have their starts so I work with the ride manager to figure out places where I can get to where there will be enough light and all the riders will be passing by. As soon as I have most of the riders photographed I move on to another spot further along the trail to get another chance at each rider. As a photographer there are new challenges with every ride.

This ride started in heavy fog and mist. The early morning sun quickly burned away the fog and the rest of the photographs of this ride turned out great.

This year at Kentucky Horse Park (KHP) in Lexington Kentucky, The World Equestian Games (WEG) will include endurance ride competition.

http://www.kyhorsepark.com/events-competition-info/2010-world-equestrian-games/

There will be endurance riders from all over the globe participating in the challenge of horse and rider of endurance riding.

Unlike the photos that I have taken, the World Equestrian Games Endurance competition may have spectators all throughout the 50 miles of trails around and through the Kentucky horse Park. The grounds are beautiful, but present a challenge in that many times the horses can see other riders in wide open fields (very different than the narrow trails through deep forests). In any case it will be great fun to watch for those who have the opportunity to watch.

Here are two web sites where you can learn more about endurance riding and check schedules for rides in your area:

aerc.org is the American Endurance Ride Conference

umecra.com is the Upper Midwest Endurance and Competitive Rides Association

One thing that Patty an I enjoy about endurance riding is that it is really about you and your horse. It’s not about how much money you have, how flashy your clothing is, who your trainer is and how much you spent on your horse. It’s about getting out there, riding your horse regularly for training, and competing with others looking to have a great time on the trail.

Peter DeMott

peter@photosbypdemott.com

http://www.photosbypdemott.com

Related posts:

1. Cracked Oats Crunch Endurance Ride at Scioto State Park in Ohio 2011
2. My wife Patty just adores her horse Cocoa
3. Cracked Oats Crunch Endurance & Ctr

The weather during the ride was great. Many trees were in blossom and the grass in the pastures where we camped was lush and green.

On the first day of the ride, Friday, I was taking pictures of the riders coming into the first vet check. To find a good spot, I climbed a very steep hill for about half a mile and I was able to take pictures of about the first half of the riders when it started raining. I waited it out for a bit and thought it was over, but then there was a bit of a downpour. At that point I covered my camera with my down vest and headed back down the hill.

A link to my pictures from the ride is at the end of this post. Daniel is another photographer that was there, but he was not able to shoot at all on the biggest day which was Saturday. Friday’s ride was tuff with steep hills and longer miles (30 miles and 55 miles) This year the turn out was low however and even on Saturday there were only about 30 25 mile riders and 30 50 mile riders. Normally this ride is well over 100 riders. Hopefully some of these pictures will inspire some of you to come to this well managed ride next year.

One thing that I notice at endurance rides is that in most cases as the people ride by me, they are smiling big. Sometimes they have a look of concern or concentration on their faces because they are trying to anticipate and figure out how their horse is going to respond to me firing off my camera as they ride by. But other than that, everyone is smiling and talking about how beautiful the trails are.

This last trail picture is of my wife Patty on her horse Cocoa. In most cases the horses are at a fast trot or sometimes a canter as they pass by me on the trail. These still pictures do not show you just how fast these folks are booking as they pass by.

In the evenings before the sun went down, I walked around the camp and took various portraits. The ideal light just before sunset provided that soft quality that made for great portrait taking.

It rained some that night, but had stopped by morning and the day was very pretty. Thank goodness it did not rain hard all night long because our tent had about ten drips. Make a note, along with rain gear for my camera, I need to get tent seam sealer and retreat the seams on the rain fly of the ten. I was able to take pictures of almost every rider on Saturday, however it was too nice out. You see when the sun gets bright in the sky it becomes more difficult to find places with even light in the forest. Light becomes patchy with horses running in and out of shadowy and bright areas as they come down the trail.

At the dinner and awards on Saturday evening one rider came to me and asked if I could take some portraits of her dog. Her dog would be going into surgery next week for the removal of some cancer, but he is an oder dog and the cancer would soon have its way with the dog. I said sure and we were able to do some portraits. At first she said, I think just the dog, then I suggested that we do some with her in the portraits too.

LINKS to more pictures from the Chicken Chase Pioneer Endurance ride.

http://pdemott.smugmug.com/Endurance-Competitive-Trail/Chicken-Chase-AERC-Endurance/11888671_D79ku#841191287_XySp4

If you participated in this endurance ride, if you know someone who did, please send them here to look at the pictures. Also at the top of the proof page, there is a coupon code listed for 30% off for all orders placed within 30 days of the event. If you have any questions and you would like to talk with me about them, please feel free to give me a call at 937-478-6222

I also have some images posted on facebook. If you go to my business page, you should be able to “tag” pictures with who they are and the pictures will be posted to that person’s wall.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=164475&id=152303558213

Pictures from the camp area by Daniel are available at his web site here: http://www.picturesdanieltook.com/Endurance-Horse-Rides

To learn more about endurance riding as a sport go to the American Endurance Ride Conference web site here http://www.aerc.org and explore.

I also took some video clips at this ride that you can watch here (Just short little video clips to give you a taste of what endurance riding is about):

http://pdemott.smugmug.com/Endurance-Competitive-Trail/Chicken-Chase-Video-Clips/Chicken-Chase-Video-Clips/11898570_NHcX7#842144086_VZejr

Last of all, I posted an album of some of my favorite images on my facebook business page. If you go here you are welcome to tag any photos of people you know so that these pictures will go to their wall (just please leave my information on the photos) and I welcome you to become a fan of Peter DeMott Photography if you like.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=164475&id=152303558213

Related posts:

1. Chicken Chase Endurance Ride in Clark State Forest in Indiana
2. Canter over the mountain endurance ride with portraits and fun water crossings 2010
3. Cracked Oats Crunch Endurance Ride at Scioto State Park in Ohio 2011

Every year in the spring one of the first Endurance rides that Patty goes to is the Chicken Chase Pioneer I,II,III ride. The ride is near Henryville, Indiana and is managed by Amy Whelan. The host for the event is Bill Wilson whose farm is used for the vet checks, for camping and for everything else that goes on. Almost always there are trees in bloom and the trails are wonderful.

April 16, 17, and 18th 2010 Chicken Chase Endurance Ride

This year my wife and daughter plan to participate in all three days of the event. As a rider you can choose whatever you want to participate in, one day, two days, or all three days, this is assuming that your horse is sound and able to complete each day. Endurance is a true team sport in that it is up to the horse and the rider to pace themselves such that when the horse arrives at several vet checks along the way it can pass the various tests to proceed. If the horse is out of shape and worked too hard the vet can “pull” the horse and the ride miles will not count. If something happens on trail and the horse becomes lame, he is pulled from the event.

Endurance riding is a great time

Here are some photographs from the Top of the Rock endurance ride at the same venue from last year. I want you to notice that all these riders look like they are having a blast. That is one thing about endurance riding and other trail events. Everyone seems to have a grand time participating in this sport. For more information about endurance riding go tohttp://aerc.org and explore the site. To see a listing of the competitions throughout the country and the world click on “competition” then “schedule” on the site.

These are still photographs, but understand that these folks are tooling down these trails either at a fast trot or sometimes at canter. I try to warn them I am there so that their horses don’t get surprised and spook, but as they come on by I have to move off the trail and get out of the way as they rumble by.

Funny thing is, if the rider is totally exhausted and running on empty, there is not someone telling them then need to pull from the event (if someone is experiencing heat exhaustion or something like that, of course that gets noticed and people step in). Most rides have limited distance rides of 25 miles, and 50 mile events, and in some cases 100 mile events are scheduled at a ride.

This year another photographer named Daniel will be shooting on Friday and Sunday and I will be shooting and selling images from Saturday. I plan to shoot for stock photos on Friday and I am going to experiment with video clips  as well. I’m excited to post them here on my blog so that people interested in this sport can see more of what it is about. I will also be able to put the clips on my Smugmug proofing site for purchase via download and you can then embed them on your site, share them on facebook and load them on Youtube for your friends and family to see. This should be great fun and an interesting experiment.

Equestrian Trail Event Photography

My goal as the photographer for the ride on Saturday is to try to capture trail photos of every rider in the 25s and 50s as they pass me on trail. Sometimes this is difficult because riders will pass me in bunches of 3 to 5 riders such that some riders are blocked by the lead rider and then zip by. If I can get to two places where both the 25s and the 50s pass by sometimes I can get two shots of most riders giving them more images to purchase. After shooting all morning I have the images processed into 4x6s for sale at the event that evening and when I get home I process the images onto my web site so people can purchase 5x7s, 8x10s and larger prints, shirts, mousepads, and other items.

Come and See What Endurance Sport is All About

You are welcome to come an watch an event if you are not sure if you want to participate and some rides have novice or fun rides for beginners. Riders are more than willing to help you along and show you the ropes if you are a new participant. Don’t be shy, but also it is important that you NOT join up with the very competitive front runners who have very fit horses and lots of experience. If you try to keep up with these folks on a horse with little or no training you will have a bad experience. Many riders like to hold back and start slow so that they can enjoy the event and pace their horse to finish. These would be good people to stay with at your first couple or rides until you know how they run and so that you can get both you and your horse into shape for this type of event.

To Finish is to Win

There is an old slogan that used to be mentioned lots, ” To finish is to win”. Any newbe should have this in their mind on there first several events. Endurance riders know how to have a great time competing. The challenge of knowing your horse, navigating the trails, and enjoying the ride make for great fun for everyone involved.

At the vet checks and back in camp, I do the best I can to make some candid portraits of horse and rider pairs. If you see me at your ride, please ask for portraits like this if you would like one. I’m already there, so I don’t charge extra to take the portraits. I may have you move into better light or to an area with a nicer background, but for a portrait like this it is a very small price to pay.

After a long ride, it’s time for a tender touch and a long nap.

This post will appear on my web site: http://www.photosbypdemott.com It will also appear on my facebook personal page and my facebook fan page along with a post on twitter. I am a portrait photographer in the Dayton, Ohio area specializing in on-location portraits of seniors, families and children. I also have a specialty in equine (horse) photography and will come to your farm or stable for your session. If you like my style I encourage you to follow me in any or all the above mentioned areas. If you are a photographer, I enjoy networking with other photographers both professional and amateur.

Related posts:

1. Chicken Chase Pioneer Endurance Ride – Recap and photos 2010
2. Cracked Oats Crunch Endurance Ride at Scioto State Park in Ohio 2011
3. Spook Run Endurance Ride October 2009 near Henryville Indiana

Riding horses in snow is great fun and with the snow coming down throughout the day Patty could not wait for the snow to stop to get out and ride. Patty does endurance rides and competitive trail rides in the summer and this was a great opportunity to exercise her horses. The snow was so deep that it was like riding through deep sand. However before she could ride, she thought it was wise to lunge the horses. They were very excited about all the snow coming down as you will see in the pictures.

As you can see the snow was quite deep. The next image shows Merlot putting his nose down in the snow as he continued around Patty.

Patty laughs as Merlot’s nose is covered with snow.

Below is Cocoa being lunged before his ride. I was too exhausted from clearing the snow from the driveway to trudge out to the pasture to take pictures of them riding, plus the snow was coming down so hard that my camera would have been soaked in no time. Now it is official. Another SNOW DAY with school canceled for tomorrow. More fun in the snow, more riding horses in the snow, how fun is that? Our neighbor was nice enough to run his tractor mounted snow blower up our drive earlier, but I was the one who had to dig a path to where we dump our manure so that the horses could have nice fresh new bedding after their ride in the deep snow of the 2010 winter here in Dayton, Ohio. The snow has not quit and it is now dark.

Cocoa is such a good boy. He gets a pat on the head before headed out for a ride with Patty.

With all the snow, now our third major snow fall in the last couple of weeks, I’ve listed several posts about taking better pictures in snow. You can find them linked to my home page on this web site: http://www.photosbypdemott.com This post will appear on my notes page on my facebook personal page. It will also appear on my wall on my photography business fan page on facebook and it will be tweeted on my twitter account. Please feel free to follow me in any of these locations.

Related posts:

1. SNOW, SNOW, SNOW…taking better pictures in snow
2. Senior Portraits in Snow, Horse and Rider Portraits in Snow & Family and Kids in Snow
3. Taking better Snow pictures

This building was about 300 yards from the stable at Shaker Village where most of the riders had their trailers parked. Stalls and running water was available.

The well kept trails were beautiful with rolling hills and taking the riders right past the buildings of the main part of Shaker Village then out into the countryside through meadows and rolling hills. Many areas had beautiful stone fences along the trails. The brochure says there are 3000 acres of original Shaker countryside.

There were lots and lots of smiles throughout this well organized endurance ride. This is a don’t miss ride for 2010.

The gallery is here: Kentucky Diehards Endurance

Learn more about endurance riding: AERC

The gallery is here: Kentucky Diehards Endurance

Related posts:

1. Kentucky die hards endurance ride Nov. 20, 2010 at Shaker Village near Lexington Kentucky
2. Chicken Chase Pioneer Endurance Ride – Recap and photos 2010
3. Cracked Oats Crunch Endurance Ride at Scioto State Park in Ohio 2011

(2009) I was planning on photographing both days of the Spook Run Endurance Ride near Henryville Indiana, but we ended up packing up and heading home after the first day. We arrived Thursday night and set up camp. I told Patty, “If it stays like this, this is going to be a great ride”. It was breezy and about 50 Degrees, but the weather forcase was for rain.

The rain woke us several times throughout the night. Waves of heavy rain kept coming. When Patty got up to feed the horse she stepped out the door of the trailer into water about 3 inches deep. It was getting much cooler and Cocoa started to shiver so we put a horse blanket on him. Start of the ride was delayed by one hour. Patty had her mucking boots, but I just ended up with soaking wet shoes (my hiking boots in the truck would provide me with dry shoes later on).

The rain stopped for a little while just long enough to get the ride started in heavy mist and fog. This is a picture of the start where they just walk for about 100 yards on a road until they meet the trail head where the pace gets much faster. I pulled my truck up into a driveway and shot out the window, but nothing that I would call salable images. Maybe a bit “cool”, but difficult to identify riders.

I stationed myself at about the halfway point for the Limited Distance group hoping that I could shoot them, then go back to where the 50 mile riders would be coming out of the trail into the vet check area. Patty came out of the woods with a friend she was riding with and as she passed she told me that Cocoa had tried to lay down in the creek (roll) and she was able to give him a swift kick and get him back up. Only, apparently his butt rug had gotten wet and apparently felt different to Cocoa and spooked him. He went into a bucking fit and Patty bailed off and landed in the mud for a somewhat soft landing. She was shook up, but said she was just fine and off they went. They were midway in the pack of riders doing the Limited Distance.

When I headed over to where the 50s would be coming out, it started pouring down rain so I gave up shooting for a while. I parked near where all the horses were coming in for their vet checks. I knotted off for a short nap and when I awoke, the last of the Limited Distance riders was coming in (I thought). Patty must be with the horse by the trailer, but when I went there she was no place to be found. I went back up to the timer and her and her trial buddy had not come in yet. That’s weird, as they were in the middle when I left them. After another 30 minutes I started to get concerned. Finally, very late, they both showed up. Seems they accidently took a turn that took them back through most of the entire loop again.

They both went through the vet check and did the second loop of the Limited Distance ride. Cocoa was a little off on the right front so Patty was not going to be able to ride him the next day. With the weather changing to much cooler and our horse blanket soaking wet from the night before, we decided that we would take up camp and head home. If we had a living quarters trailer, we could have had hot showers and dry clothing and we would have stayed, but since we did not we left. On our way home Patty was not feeling too well. I told her it was probably from her fall. Ya-know, even though you landed in the mud, I’m sure that was quite a jolt to your body. By the time we arrived home Patty was pretty soar all over. If we had slept the night in chilly conditions, I don’t think she would have been able to move in the morning. As it was, we both took nice hot showers and slept in our warn soft bed at home. She woke soar all over, but soon loosened up and is feeling pretty good after just doing some easy stuff throughout the day.

The pictures that I did get after the rain finally stopped were very pretty showing fall colors and a bed of leaves on the trails. Here are just a few.

The rider above is Janet Kirkpatrick. I owe her an 8×10 from the last ride (Cracked Oats Crunch). I have the list with some others that I need to send out soon, so she will have it soon. After the ride she was telling me that she ended up in the hospital because she had a gallstone between her pancreas and her liver and was in very serious condition with liver failure. They were able to create some sort of bi-pass and will have to go in again to remove the stone perhaps when she gets back. I imagine, you will want this picture too, so I will send both to you Janet. Take care of yourself.

This rider was in the vet check waiting for her time to go out again. “Hey Peter, can you take a couple shots of me here”, she said. She then pointed out where her children had woven a ribbon into the braids of the horse that had the name of their dog which had recently died. “We decided that this ride would be to commemorate our dog.” You cannot see the ribbon from this picture, but I saw it and it is there.

These next couple images show just how pretty the woods and the trails were.

And last of all, if anyone want to purchase images from the ride, here is the link to the few pictures I did take SPOOK RUN ENDURANCE RIDE.

Related posts:

1. Chicken Chase Endurance Ride in Clark State Forest in Indiana
2. Canter Over the Mountain Endurance Ride in WV / Photography from the ride / 2011
3. Canter over the mountain endurance ride with portraits and fun water crossings 2010

This ride was staged at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and included a 50 mile endurance ride, a 25 mile “limited distance” endurance ride, a 25 mile competitive trail ride and a shorter novice ride on Sunday. The trails were wide and well cared for and the meadow gave us plenty of room for camping. The Appaloosa Nationals were piggy back with this ride with 13 participants from as far away as Canada.

Morning brought some heavy fog and mist until the sun came up.

The mist quickly burned off revealing a horse eating photographer in the woods. I try to talk to people as they approach to help the horses know that I am just another human being. This horse found the large lens interesting indeed.

At endurance rides and competitive trail rides there are vets, timers, pulse checkers, and other volunteers to help things work smoothly. Here Bill Cartwright logs the time in and time out for riders who have arrived at the vet check. Great job Bill.

Below is a special request for a portrait session at the ride. I have decided that I will offer no charge sessions at endurance rides. Of course, it is not exactly easy to find a time between everything that is going on during one of these events, but this one fit right in. Best time for these is evening.

The next two images are portraits of the winner of the appoloosa nationals , Cat Carter, with her horse.

Shannon Loomis always buys a hand full of pictures from each ride that I shoot where she is an participant. This is a picture of Shannon with our horse April. There was a minor problem with her horse and she could not ride him on the second day. Patty had brought April along hoping to find the right person to ride her since Patty would be riding Cocoa. Here April notices Cocoa across the meadow. They are good buddies, so Shannon had to keep April from trotting off to be with our other horse. From the looks of it both Shannon and April had a great time.

Here Patty waits for her out time. Is it time yet?, is it time yet?, how about now?, is it time yet….? as she teases Bill, the ride timer. Bills response was a very low tone, No, not yet, no, not yet, 10, 9,8,7,6,5.4.3.2.1… Okay, NOW you can go.

To see all the pictures taken during this weekend click on this link: Cracked Oats Crunch Pictures.

Related posts:

1. Cracked Oats Crunch Endurance Ride at Scioto State Park in Ohio 2011
2. Canter over the mountain endurance ride with portraits and fun water crossings 2010
3. Chicken Chase Endurance Ride in Clark State Forest in Indiana