Las Trampas Ride description

[Connie DeJong <cdejong@cisco.com>]

Las Trampas is held in the Oakland Hills.  The first half is a climb up about 
800 ft, with a ride along the ridge.  It goes up and down off the ridge into canyons at different points and back down the ridgeline you came up for lunch.  The lunch vet is back at camp with the second loop around Lake Chabot.   Again there is up and down, close to the 400-600 ft in elevation, with some flat in between.

The ride is moderate, unless it is hot. Then I would say it is difficult.  It is also 
possible to have fog, so plan for it.  If the fog is in, the horses go faster and end up at the first vet closer together.  This causes a lot of standing around and  waiting in line often resulting in tying up. If it is foggy, take a rump rug (or even your jacket) to put over your horses hind quarters. At the 1/4 mile sign before the vet be sure and walk your horse in to cool down slowly.  Send a blanket and bucket with some food with the cargo truck that they provide to go to first vet.If it is foggy, the first vet is really crowded, so you might as well have all the things you need to give your horse a good rest while you wait. I've ridden that ride in such thick fog that you can't see horses 50ft in front.  

 If you don't have hills to climb for practice, my only suggestion is to do a lot of backing up with your horse on and off board to assist in building hind quarter muscles. In addition you might want to teach him to tail so you can walk a couple of the steeper hills by hanging on. Plan on getting off and walking or jogging the steep down hills, most of us do that even though our horses are trained in similar conditions. Your best bet is cardio work at the trot and canter in the heat.  Start by trotting for time intervals and increase every ride.   Do the same with a relaxed canter, best to use a heart monitor so you can see how long you can trot keeping heart rate at say below 100 (depending on your horses working rate)  then time how long it takes to come back to 60.  If it is hot on ride day, you have an advantage since your horse is used to temperatures in the 90-100 range.

I'm just guessing on the elevations, you can probably order relief maps through USGS of the Chabot Regional State Park area  for the real numbers.   For that
matter, they might be on the web!  

Good luck, this is a fun ride and really caters to new riders and juniors.  My daughter has taken best condition on her pony here a couple of times.  It may
not be the best beginner terrain, but it is a great ride to get a feel of Endurance.
The camp is real nice as are the dinner and finishing awards. Ride personnel try real hard to make you feel at home.  

See you there.



Connie DeJong
Villa Montagne Equestrian B&B
28495 Big Basin Way
Boulder Creek, CA 95006
(831) 338-2174 , 338-2427(fax)
www.bedbreakfastinnguide.com/Montagne/

The best kept secret located in the Redwood Forest of the 
Santa Cruz Mountains on the Skyline to the Sea trail.


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