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[RC] Drafting - Riding with People - Aaron TurnageI often attend rides alone. And although I always try to "ride my own ride", etc, my horse does prefer to travel in the company of at least one other horse, so I try to find someone to ride with, sometimes we ride with several different people during the day. I have never intentionally drafted off of anyone, I prefer to see if they are willing to ride together, although I don't always ask directly. It's definitely nice if both horses (or more if the group is larger) are willing to take their turn in the front. Actually, one of the things that wears my boy down is having to FOLLOW all day. As Barbara pointed out, changing leaders is a good way to take advantage of the different strengths each horse may have to move the group or pair down the trail in a more efficient manner. I've met a lot of nice people this way. One thing I find interesting is my horse seems to have a preference as to who we ride
with. At some rides, people will pass and pass (or we will be passing) and he doesn't alter his gait at all and then one certain horse will come along and he'll slightly speed up or slow down. If this person is going my pace and doesn't mind, these are usually the people we tend to ride with. One thing I find interesting is when this happens, often the two horses get along really well! At my last ride I met the nicest girl Lesley and her horse Eagle and the two boys seemed to really hit it off. We rode together most of the day and there was never a nasty face, mean look, laid back ear, anything. They drank nose to nose, took turns in the front, etc. It was a GREAT ride! I've had this happen several times now when my boy got to "choose" our partners. Not that he's a very nasty horse anyways, he usually just does his own thing. But's it's funny how they tend to have a preference. ~
Crysta & Sinatra (I really liked him because he was a pinto too!)
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