In my opinion anyone who is a ride manager is a card-carrying saint. These are the people who put themselves at risk financially, legally, and otherwise, so that all of us can enjoy the sport.

But since this column is written for ride managers by ride managers in a sincere attempt to improve the rides, I would like to offer a suggestion that might possibly prevent rides from being too hard or too easy.

If you are an established ride manager with a well-established trail, you can stop reading right now. You know your trail and how it rides. You will quite naturally continue to make small improvements such as finding a better water crossing or cutting a new trail so as to avoid a stretch of pavement, etc.

This is written for the ride manager who is faced with a brand-new trail or a substantially changed trail. The most common mistake I see occur is that rides end up being way too hard or way too easy. The reason is that the ride management does not send a few horses over the exact trail starting at the exact time the ride is going to start, and taking the exact P&R stops and luncheon stops as they will occur on the ride. If you are a ride manager you owe it to yourself and to the riders to put at least three to five horses over your trail.

What usually happens is you lay the trail out on paper. John comes over and rides the first loop, and says it is great. Mary comes over a few days later and rides the second loop and says it is fine. And the last loop is ridden by good old Joe who comes back and tells you that it's the most beautiful piece of trail he has ever ridden. So based on this feedback you put it all together and it spells Mother.

The day of the ride arrives and you end up with an opening day at Hollywood Park that takes about three hours to complete. Or, worse, you end up with a seven-hour winning time and a lot of riders who cannot complete within the 12 hours.

To prevent this it is important that you send these horses three or four weeks in advance over this proposed trail. Now no one ever rides a conditioning ride at the same speed as you will ride it on the day of the ride. So if your group of three to five horses goes over your trail and it takes them about seven hours, your winning time will be two to three hours less.

But at least you will know that you have laid out a possible trail that can be completed at a moderate speed in more or less seven hours.

Wishing you smooth trails, sound horses, and satisfied riders.