MAP TECHNIQUES FOR TRAIL RIDING

            Ever been lost trail riding? Ever been lost and took the long way home, much to your horse’s disgust? Ever been so lost you were actually worried about where you were and how safe you were? If you answered “yes” to any of those questions than you need to learn some basic map reading skills.

            The trail riding sport of TREC emphasizes the basic map and compass skills needed to safely and with confidence find your way while riding.

            Whether you’re riding in familiar territory or in new country having a map along and the skills to use it can make for a safer, more comfortable ride. It doesn’t take but one time where a sudden storm or injury to you or your horse necessitates a shorter, quicker route home for you to realize that knowing where you are and how to quickly and safely get to where you want to be can be very important.

            The orienteering phase of a TREC competition emphasizes the riders ability to follow the trail marked on their map and to make decisions about the type of terrain, how fast you can travel across it and how much stress it will put on your horse.

            Unlike straight orienteering where you simple go from “A” to “B” in a straight line, the TREC orienteering  competition course ask you to follow a trail you mark on your map at set speeds. The competition part comes in as you arrive at unknown check points. Your time of travel is calculated and you loose points for being too fast or too slow. So following the trail and knowing the speed your horse travels at each of his gaits is very important.  

            But how does this help in the “real world”? By knowing that you are on the correct trail and how fast your horse can go at each gait allows you to calculate how long it will take you to go from your farm on your normal trail ride and back home again.

            But you probably know that about your home country. What if you were in strange country and a storm was coming or you’d gotten lost and darkness was approaching? Being able to determine exactly where you are and how far you had to travel to safety could make for an exciting trail ride rather than a scary one.

            When using a map there are four critical things you’ll find on the map that can help you both know where you are and in making decisions about where you want to ride to get to safety.

            Those four things are: critical landmarks, elevation, distance and compass heading.

            Every GOOD map has many easy to understand critical land marks on it. These could be lakes, creeks, streams, rivers,  dirt and paved roads, paths, buildings, airports, power lines, gas lines and so forth. Really good maps will have these clearly identified in a “key” somewhere on the map.  So if you are riding beside a funny shaped lake it should look like that funny shape on the map. If it’s not the same shape you may be in the wrong spot or NOT where you thought you were.

            All maps have “contour lines” that mark changes in elevation. The farther apart the lines the flatter the terrain: the closer together the lines the steeper the incline. So if you are riding up or down  a steep mountain you should see that on the map as you feel it in your riding. And don’t forget, water runs DOWNHILL. Another easy way to verify your location is to see whether the stream is on your left or right side and which way it’s running in relation to you.

            All maps have distances marked on them. The trick is to figure out WHAT the distance mark means on the map you are using. Once you know that (usually found in another  “key” at the bottom of the map) then you know that each square or “grid” mark you ride across is that much distance.

            If you use a North Carolina road atlas when driving your car then each inch represents about  2.4miles or3.8 kilometers. The scale for such a map is 1 to 150,000. For TREC orienteering competitions the map scale is 1 to 25,000. That means that 1 9/16 inch (or 4 centimeters ) equals 1 kilometer (or about 5/6 of a mile). Sounds complicated but once you get use to working in centimeters, meters and kilometers it’s MUCH easier than the US system of measurement because everything is divisible by ten. And once you know the distance to something and how fast your horse travels then you can figure out how long it will take you to get there and thus what time you should arrive at your destination. And since the scale is so small then the details of landmarks and terrain on the map are larger, clearer and more visible.

            The final thing that helps you know where you are going is the direction of the compass that you carry. While the sun works ok in the morning and afternoon as it rises and sets high noon and cloudy days make it difficult to stay on the right heading without a compass. The compass rarely lies and can help to “straighten you out” when you’ve gotten  turned around  because the deep woods have begun to all look alike.

            And in the more difficult TREC orienteering competitions you can actually be given a list of coordinates, your map is sealed in an envelope for security and you set off with just your trusty compass and compass reading skills in search of the next check point.

            But the TREC competitions come in 5 levels from beginner with simple map work to an international level where riders are really challenged to show their compass and map skills as well as their horsemanship. Because getting it wrong means your HORSE has to travel the extra kilometers and you’ll not be his favorite rider any longer.

            Interested in trying this exasperating yet enthralling sport? Ask for more information on the up-coming SANDHILLS TREC scheduled for April 13,14,15 in the Raeford/Gamelands area. Contact Mary Harcourt at 910-944-5797 mharcourt@earthlink.net  for a rule book, more information and entry forms.