What is Ride & Tie?
Although it may sound like a rodeo event and at times can take on the atmosphere of a rip roaring’ rodeo, it has nothing to do with the sport of rodeo. Ride & Tie is an endurance race, run on trails and cross-country, generally 20 to 40 miles or more in length, involving teams of one horse/two humans, competing against 10 to 50 other like teams. The humans alternate riding the horse a mile or so, tying it to a tree, and taking off running, while the other human catches up to the horse, unties it and rides past the other human, and so on. The human teammates are mixed or matched pairs: young, old, female, male, fast and not-so-fast, all racing the same course. They work closely with each other and their equine teammate throughout the race, including mandatory veterinary checkpoints.
