Intro to NATRC, that is, Leisure Division

The Leisure Division has been introduced to allow trail riders to get a sense of what a Competitive Trail Ride is and how one is run without worrying to much about horses' conditioning, since the rides are 8 - 10 miles long.

Check-in: Check-in will be the same day as the ride, so there will be no need to for the horse to be tied for a night. When the horse and rider arrive at ride camp, they will be expected to set up their trailer in a safe fashion (although it won't be judged) , then take their horses to vet in. The vet-in will be performed by two experienced NATRC participants (not an actual vet or horsemanship judge), who will perform the steps of vetting in and fill out both vet and horsemanship judging cards. The person acting as the horsemanship judge will also check the trailer set-ups for safety and review them with the C-riders, if they're interested.

Ride Meeting: Before being timed out, the riders will be briefed on how NATRC rides are paced and timed (and the consequences of not falling into the timing window). A map will be provided with timing points, as on an actual ride, and the notion of the pie plates will be described. In addition to the map, the ribboning will be explained. The riders will then tack up and get timed out.

The Ride: It will be 8 - 12 miles long at Novice pace. A map will be provided that is in the same format as the map for the actual competitors. The trail will be marked with ribbons, as the competitive trail is, and some of the trail will also be used on the actual ride. There will be obstacles on the trail similar to those that might be on an actual ride, judged by the faux horsemanship judge, and there will be Pulse and Respiration stops where the horse's card will be filled out and the faux vet judge will check out the horses.

At the end of the ride, the teams will be timed in, and after ~30 minutes for cooling out and cleaning, the horses will be vetted out. When all the horses are checked in, the riders will be called together and the Horsemanship cards and Horse cards will be distributed. Although scores will be calculated, no placings will be calculated. Each judge will discuss what went well, what didn't, and what would be different in an actual ride. The riders will then receive their completion awards and entry forms will be available for the Sunday rides.