Re: RC: National Championship Ride

[Bonita Young <corky@rabbitbrush.com>]

This is just my opinion as to why rides in the west provide hay, back in
the mid 70's  when there were not many rides anywhere, rides in
California started to get real big.  I can remember going to several
rides that broke records as to number of horses that started ( the
Madonna Inn ride comes to mind, I think around 400 horses started the 50
and 25).  At any rate  with the large number of riders and crew people,
crew access   was limited at many rides just because of shear number
of people, and the limited amount of space available.  It was just
easier for management to provide hay and water than to deal with the
large number of support people at certain checks along the trail.  After
a while people in the west  just started to expect hay and water  at
rides.  I know many rides now transport crew bags for riders to the
lunch stop, but again at very large rides, such as Tevis this year
(started 259 horses)  this would have been a very difficult task.  Just
imagine trying to find your stuff in a pile of bags for that many
people, it could take you the whole hour just to find your bag.  I think
the practice of providing hay and other things just grew out of
necessity and is still carried on as a courtesy  to riders and there
mounts.
Corky Young