Headwaters of the Rogue Endurance Ride

Headwaters of the Rogue Endurance Ride has to have been one of the most beautiful rides and fun rides. Having made friends with people who have competed in the Northwest division, I was able to get some information on this ride to better help condition our horses. We were told that Headwaters was 12 miles up hill and then 12 miles down. My mare Kelsey was a little on the lazy side when it came to uphill, but was great and steady on the downhill. Brian's horse "Diego" was a tank and just motored up hill and was just as strong downhill. We decided to do hillwork to get our horses cardiovascular system in better shape plus build the stamina they were going to require for this ride.

The day we were supposed to arrive to set up camp and vet check in, we got a later start than originally planned and didn't get to ride camp until way after dark. We were worried that we wouldn't be able to vet our horses in but the great people that put the ride on vetted our horses and put the numbers on our horses rumps in the morning. We were off to preparing for the ride.

Kelsey and Diego felt ready to go. Everything seemed to have just fallen in sync that day. The ride started and we took it easy on them knowing that there was a long steady uphill ahead of them. When we started up the hill, both the horses were passing others left and right. We were checking their breathing and pulse but they just kept steady climbing without blowing themselves out. We were impressed with our horses. We just kept holding them back from really pushing themselves because we didn't know how much more uphill was ahead. All of a sudden we see a vet check sign, already. How far had we gone?

At the vet check we asked how much more uphill was left and they said that we had made it. It was all downhill from here. We had gone 12 miles and didn't even know it. Our horses had plenty of energy and were still ready to go! Our horses vetted in with great marks and was out of the vet check in no time.

Now that we knew we had the hard part over with, I finally could relax and enjoy the scenery. The rumors of how beautiful this ride is were true. Basically it was a single track meandering through the forest down to the Rogue River. It was breathtaking. Your horses had to watch their footing from rocks and roots on the trail which kept them alert.

When we crossed the Rogue River, we knew we were getting close to the end of the ride and Kelsey could smell camp. That gave her her second wind. So we winded back up to camp to have a positive finish and vetted out with great marks. Our horses trotted off as if they had not even done the ride. All in all, we had one of those rides that we will always remember: great weather, horse and rider in sync, great trails, great ride. We will definitely be doing this ride again!