The Hat Creek Hustle 2011 will be held June 18 and 19 near Lassen Park. The ride camp will be at Twin Bridges. The ride will offer 50 and 25 mile AERC sanctioned distances both days, and a 10 mile introductory fun ride and clinic on Saturday with another 15 mile fun ride on Sunday. The trails will consist primarily of a combination of dirt and gravel roads, with approximately 15% single-track trail. This is an extremely scenic ride, and the course offers some spectacular views of Mt Shasta and Mt Lassen, not to mention old growth forest and creeks. A rider might want to carry a camera. The terrain in this part of northern California is predominantly volcanic in origin, so some rock on the trail is inevitable, however we have made every effort to put on a ride where a horse can relax and travel without needing to watch every step. That said, we can’t promise that there might not be a rock out there which has your horse’s name on it, so shoes are advised, and if your horse is prone to finding rocks, pads or boots might be suggested.
Ride camp is arranged in cooperation with the Forest Service, and they have some requests. These are simple and reasonable: ALL DOGS MUST BE ON LEASH AT ALL TIMES. This is not negotiable. All trailers and horses must remain at least 100 feet from the creek while in camp (They don’t want dust/ silt in their trophy fishing watershed, which reminds me to tell you to bring a pole…) Other than that there are no restrictions. We plan on having LOTS of horse water in camp and at the vet checks, as well as on the trail (you will go no more than 6 miles between water on the trail). There is comfortable parking for about 80 rigs, so there will be a 100 rider limit each day, so we don’t have an overcrowded ride and our vets can provide prompt and complete examinations.
There will be dinner for riders on Saturday before the awards, and there will a brunch provided on Sunday during the ride, starting around 9 AM. We will have happy hour and a campfire (conditions permitting) each evening before the ride, but remember this is a FAMILY sport…) We will be providing completion awards to all riders who finish, as well as special awards to the juniors, top ten riders and Best Conditioned horse in the 50 mile distance. Ties will NOT be recognized. We will NOT be providing best condition in the 25 mile or the fun ride rides, as this ride’s management views these distances as TRAINING and not as competition. Instead, we will be giving awards to the riders who show careful horsemanship and courtesy. This ride is intended to be relatively non-strenuous, with only one section of real climb (600 feet in a little over a mile on Saturday). Our goal in this ride is to provide a venue for fun, safe riding which horses can complete without undue stress. Start times for the rides are 7AM for the 50 and 8AM for the 25. The fun ride will start following that. The longest day of the year falls near ride day, so daylight is not the question, but rather what temperature it is and the amount of consumption during happy hour the night before.
We will be utilizing the original AERC protocols for finish times (Pulse met in 60 minutes and fit to continue) until such time as statistically verifiable benefit to the horse for a change in this policy has been shown. For those of you who are curious, there has been NO scientific study which has shown that changing the original policy to be of benefit to the horse. There are many who FEEL that there might be, but until such time as repeatable scientific studies have been done to verify these impressions, this ride will continue to use the original protocol. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
We have made every effort to put on an exceptional ride, but realize that there is always room for improvement. To address that there will be suggestion forms available and we are offering to current season ride managers half price entries in return for helpful critique. (Besides, they need some reward for their hard work! Thank You!!!) Some of last year’s suggestions have been implemented. For ride entries or more information, link the ride through the AERC website, or contact ride manager:
Rob Lydon doclydon@frontiernet.net
(530) 474-4753 Office
(530) 474-4756 Fax