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[RC] Colombia - the ride at Club La Pradera - stephteeter

Ride at La Pradera - July 1
Carolina Barraquer was the Ride Manager of this event, based at the La
Pradera Country Club. Carolina is a 4th level Dressage rider, with an eye on
the 2010 WEG, but is volunteering an amazing amount of time and energy to
the Endurance program. She is a member of the Endurance committee, and seems
to be a major driving force - the details - behind the effort to be
successful at FEI endurance. She works and trains at La Pradera and lives in
the mountains to the East of the club, so knows the trails, knows the area,
and this is her ride.

The venue facilities are perfect - stables, patios, office, water,
electricity, and a very cooperative club. And the trails from the club are
beautiful, but tough. Lots of hills, a fair amount of dirt/rock road - but
plenty of scenery. Typical of the organization behind most of the rides,
this was to be a chance for us to observe, suggest, comment, etc, with an
eye towards FEI.

It seems that they don't have very far to go. There wasn't a huge group of
riders, so it was fairly easy on timers and staff, but everything went very
slowly. There was a minor issue with a rider getting off trail, but after
many opinions were offered as to the right thing to do, Diego went and
retrived their rule book and the solution became very clear. Just the right
thing to do. The trail was pretty tough and the ride times were slow, but
most of the riders finished, and the horses came through in good shape.

We spent the day watching riders come and go, and also going out on the
trail to see the conditions and get some photos. Daniel was our gracious
driver, taking us wherever we wanted to go. We were blessed with a gorgeous
sunny day, it was beautiful out there. Fun to see the riders working the
hills, making time when footing allowed, and traversing the countryside.

There was one water crossing which was causing some concern - the river was
high from all the rain, and it was fast. Daniel managed to get us to the
crossing just in time to see Mauricio Gauna and his son Martin taking the
crossing - nice and easy, no problem. This section of trail is part of the
Camino Real - the famous trail which was used for centuries to transport
goods and people across the country. A nice touch of history.

The ride ended just at dark as the last of the 80km riders finished.
Everybody gathered in the club house, enjoying their beer, enjoying each
other's company, and celebrating the day with a raucous awards ceremony.
Nice awards, lots of cheering, and Carolina appeared to come through the day
in fine shape.

full story and coverage at http://www.endurance.net/colombia

Steph


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