Inaugural Shiver in the Pines CMO

 I stubbornly hosted my second NACMO ride in the face of an oncoming winter storm. It was aptly named Shiver in the Pines.

Long course map because I'm quite proud of how these turned out.

Setting up for NACMO

 I hosted my second NACMO ride on Sunday (yes, in the face of an incoming snowstorm because... well... *gestures at life*). I decided to apply for the permit right before Christmas, which means I had pretty much exactly one month to get my act together. I learned a lot from hosting my first ride last summer, and I have to say most things were easier the second time around. 

Of course, this means I had a good excuse to do a lot of trail scouting and exploring and riding. I spent every weekend of January at Colliers Mills with various people. And, of course, there was the actual setting of the course, which Mike and I did by car last weekend. 

Originally, I was going to do a separate post for each ride, but I'm feeling very inspired to get the blog back to real time (ish). I WILL reserve my ride with Booger on Saturday for its own entry. It was one of my favorite rides on her to date. But I'm going to dump the rest here in chronological order for the sake of brevity. 

Eryca and I seem to do some version of this photo every winter and I love it.

Festivus CMO

 Sandy hosted the last NACMO ride of 2024 at Round Valley in December. Of course, I was in for the long course. 

Originally, I was supposed to ride with Terra and loan Lilly to Dodie so she could join us. Then I found out that Tor was available and I hooked her up with Terra because I was out of horses and trailer spots. Terra agreed to loan Pride to Tor. Then Dodie decided to ride with Jen on the short course because Jen didn't have a team. Then Melissa reached out and Jen reportedly found a team. Dodie said she would be up for a foursome including her new mare, Lillie (also a gray), but we would have to go slow. I felt like four might be a crowd and wasn't sure Lilly could actually do 14-ish miles of tough terrain at Round Valley. 

In the end, Dodie did the short course with Melissa, Jen, and Angela. Tor, Terra, and I stuck with the long course.

A few days before the ride, I looked at the season points for our region and realized that I was in second place right behind Jen S, the leader of the Four Horsemen. At first, I thought she was too far ahead of me to catch. Then I did the math and realized that if she didn't show up and I had a perfect day (finding all ten objectives and coming in first) I could beat her by one point.

If you've been reading this blog for more than thirty seconds, you can probably see where this is going. I was on a mission.

Turkey Trot CMO 2024

 Alternate title: Birthday NACMO

The Turkey Trot CMO at Lake Ontelaunee fell on my birthday this year and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate! Dodie has been driving Willow, but Bee is out on maternity leave (the foal should be coming any week now) so Dodie did not have a horse to ride. Luckily for both of us, I have spares! I loaned her Lilly for the day and we entered the long course together.

Fingers Crossed 2024

 My first foray into the world of mounted orienteering was at the Fingers Crossed ride in April of 2023. This year, Fingers Crossed was held in September and I got to go back to where it all started (plus camping.)

Redemption Ride

 At my NACMO ride, my new friends, Sarah and Joe, expressed interest in coming out to help me take the course down. They referred to it as their chance to get a redemption ride. They wanted to see the plates they missed and learn more about how the sport works. I was all for it!

Originally, Sandy and I were planning to go on Monday, but the day got away from both of us. We rescheduled for Thursday, and included Sarah and Joe in those plans. Then Sandy's camping trip up to Bear Springs got moved at the last second. She was leaving Thursday night! I decided I would go with Sarah and Joe anyway.

"I might bring the Bad Horse™," I said in my message to Sarah.
"I want to bring my young stallion," she replied. 

What could go wrong?

It turns out, nothing went wrong. It was a perfectly glorious night with people who I really want to ride with more!

Inaugural Horse Days of Summer CMO

 (aka the Peer Pressure Ride)

The morning of the NACMO ride dawned with glorious weather. Cool, clear, sunny. The entire reason I planned my first ride for August was because I would be guaranteed to have no desire to ride in the sweltering summer heat. Joke's on me. I was thrilled nonetheless. 

Short version: the day was a success over all. There were a lot of ups and downs, but I would totally do it again. Most people seemed to have fun.

Eryca and Bryce ended up cancelling their trip to DC at the last minute. She came out to help me with registration, which ended up being a godsend since I had a much bigger turnout than anticipated.

Setting Up NACMO

 A Post in Three Parts

I had one weekend between Muckleratz CTR and my NACMO ride. This meant I had to buckle down and set my course, finalize my maps, and tie up all the loose ends. Of course, because this is me, the forecast for the following week included a hurricane. I knew I would need to check the course the day before to make sure nothing blew/washed away. The good news is I now know this half of the Assunpink really well.

Father's Day NACMO

 The weekend before Father's Day, Dodie hosted a NACMO ride at Green Lane. Of course, I was in! This NACMO ride also featured camping, which I was extra excited about. It turned out to be a stellar weekend. Highlights included dunking the ponies in the reservoir, riding bareback at night with fireflies lighting the way, and doing the long course with friends.

Truly my happy place. Lucy was also very content, and was giving a series of happy grunts.

NACMO: Spring Shenanigans

 As I've mentioned a few times in my last several posts, Sandy and Emily hosted their first NACMO ride at Deer Path Park in April. I first heard about the plan as it was hatching back in February at Dodie's ride. I was very excited to have a ride super local to us, and I joked about having a home field advantage because I know the trails. I planned to take Lucy and do the long course. We went, we saw, we conquered. It was a good day.

I have gotten really into this sport in the last year.

NACMO Awards Ride

 Happy time change, y'all! Now if it would just STOP RAINING. 

This winter has simultaneously gone by in the blink of an eye and seemed like it has been dragging on forever. I am very ready to go back to longer, warmer, maybe dryer days. I have been going a bit stir crazy this year. 

So when Dodie announced that she was planning to do a NACMO ride/awards brunch on February 25th, I was very excited. The plan was weather dependent. If the weather cooperated, we would do a ride at Leaser Lake. If not, we would all gather at Dodie's house for an indoor awards brunch. 

We got a ton of snow the week before and I watched the Facebook page for updates. Luckily, we had a warm/wet spell that week, which took care of most of the snow. The forecast for the day ended up being clear, but freezing cold. That was fine by me and the ride was a go.

NACMO: Turkey Trot 2023

Eryca and I tried NACMO for the first time this spring and I was instantly hooked. I've been trying to make it to another event ever since. I have had rotten luck. Mostly, the weather has been uncooperative, leading to a lot of rides getting rescheduled to dates that didn't work for me. 

The Tuscarora ride was the same weekend as the fox hunting clinic. 

I wanted to do the two day ride up at Pure Country, but I wasn't sure Lucy would be able to handle camping by herself. Plus the ride was five hours away and sandwiched between photographing Muckleratz and doing Booger's first 50. It was just too many  Things in a short period of time.

I was bound and determined to make it to the Halloween Haunt at Trexler. It got rained out and rescheduled twice. The first rain date would have worked for me, but the second one ended up being the day we photographed Asad for Christine. 

The Turkey Trot at Lake Ontelaunee was the last thing in our region for the year. Eryca was away, but I was eager to go even if I had to ride by myself. I wanted to do the long course, but my back up plan was to do the short course with any team that would have me. (Sadly, Jen and Christine did not end up going, but Sandy and Emily would be there, along with Dodie and Melissa.) 

Luckily for me, Tor was available that weekend. She and I have been riding together more than ever this year, which is a trend I hope to see continue in 2024. I offered her Lily and she gladly accepted. I felt bad because she has to drive over an hour to meet me at the barn, and the ride was another two hours away. 

I messaged the ride manager, LeeAnn, and asked what the latest we could start would be. She said 10am. ("I don't want to still be waiting for riders to come in when it gets dark." Fair enough.) I told her we would be there.

NACMO: Fingers Crossed

Three weeks ago, Eryca and I tried something new! Mounted Orienteering has been on my to-try list since I first heard about it many years ago. It sounded like Geocaching on horseback... and I love Geocaching and horseback! Unfortunately, I seem to have a passion for dying sports and orienteering is not very popular on the east coast. Still, I saw many of my friends in the PNW having a blast doing CMO. I knew NACMO was something Miss Dodie was involved in and I left that information in a dusty corner of my brain "for a rainy day". 

Imagine my surprise and absolute joy when Dodie posted that she was holding the Fingers Crossed ride at our very own Horseshoe Bend Park!! Fingers crossed because it's April and the weather can be fickle. The first date got rained out, but that actually worked in my favor since Eryca wasn't available that day. The ride was rescheduled to the 29th, and we planned to go. (One of the benefits of CMO is that you can do it as an individual rather than a team, but things are definitely more fun with friends.)