Managing a ride can be very rewarding, agonizing, tiresome, exhilarating, emotional and more. At the same time you experience the thrill of victory you may also experience the agony of defeat. (Riders often experience these same emotions during a ride).

The day following their ride, most new ride managers will say they will never manage another endurance ride. About a month after the ride they start making plans for next year's ride, sanctioning it and trying to decide what can they do to make it better.

There are many reasons a person decides to become a ride manager and to manage a new ride. One of the reasons, which is very rewarding, is to share with fellow riders all the beautiful trails that they have had the pleasure to see and ride every day.

Ride managers agonize over laying out a trail that will be safe with the correct distance for each loop and hopefully scenic. Many non-ride managers do not realize the hours that the ride manager has put into clearing the trails, mowing, cutting out limbs that would hit the riders in the face, chain sawing trees and even throwing rocks off trails. They go over the map and ride the trail several times a day in their mind while trying to put the pieces of the trail together. Then they go and ride the trails over and over during the months before the ride.

The week before the ride, they go out and carefully place each trail marker (whether it be a paper plate, surveyor ribbon or markers of a different sort), one by one in a place they feel will be able to best direct each rider to a successful finish. All the preparation for the ride has finally been completed and they hope each rider will come and have a good time. Ride managers need to provide trails that are well marked, have accurate mileage, have horse water available and are safe.

Ride day arrives and the riders are released to ride the trail that has been laid out with care. The ride manager anxiously waits as the first rider arrives into the first vet check. They wonder if the riders found their way with no problems, did they like the pretty views that are so admired by the ride manager, were the trails too rough, too flat, too rocky, too muddy, or just right?

The ride manager may hear a couple of riders mumbling that they didn't like the trails for some reason or felt it was poorly marked. The ride manager just can't believe the rider didn't see the trail through their eyes. Oftentimes new ride managers only hear the negative comments even though several riders will let them know the trail was wonderful, great and marked perfect.

" No ride manager will always please everyone and they need to learn not to take things so personally. The new ride manager can listen to the constructive criticism later but during the ride on that day they need to let things roll off their backs and concentrate on the ride.

Riders need to be positive and encouraging during the ride toward the new ride manager, just as the ride manager needs to be towards the riders. Not all new ride managers mark trails the way the riders are familiar with and will eventually learn to do betterÑor riders may get used to how the new ride manager marks their trail and find it is not so hard to understand and follow. (One way to avoid some of this confusion is for the ride manager to have a rider unfamiliar with the trail ride it in advance of the ride, after it has been marked. If they can find their way without any problem, the markers are probably be fine.)

Each ride manager has to deal with the trails that are in their area and must do the best they can with what they have. Each rider must remember that all the competitors will have to go over the same trail, following the same trail markings, ride according to the trail by riding at a speed that is safe for the terrain and weather on that day. Riders should keep in mind AERC's motto, "To finish is the win." That strategy wins more rides than speed.

Riders need to use their common sense and know all trails are not safe to run at breakneck speeds; some may even need to be walked in places. Riders need to remember that they are on an endurance ride with courses that can vary widely. Most are not manicured race tracks but each has challenging trails that are technical in their own way and should be ridden accordingly.

NOT JUST FOR RIDE MANAGERS: AERC'S RIDE INSURANCE

Ride insurance is handled automatically when an AERC ride is sanctioned at no cost to ride management. The office forwards ride information directly to AERC's insurance company, Equisure, Inc. Ride managers can request additional certificates of insurance directly from Equisure if necessary.

Introductory rides of less than 25 miles and educational clinics held in conjunction with AERC-sanctioned rides are covered by AERC's insurance only if noted on the sanctioning application. To insure coverage of intro rides and/or clinics, a few other rules also apply. A day member fee of $1 per rider or participant must be collected from individuals that are not current AERC members and participate in the clinic or intro ride, and it is necessary to provide AERC with the names and addresses of those day members.

Policy limits for the AERC equine club liability insurance policy:

Limit of Liability:

-- $1,000,000 each occurrence limit

-- $2,000,000 general aggregate limit (other than products/completed operations)

-- $1,000,000 products/completed operations aggregate limit

The following limits are sub-limits of and not in addition to the limits shown above:

-- $1000,000 personal & advertising injury limit any one person

Property damage limit: $50,000 any one show for property rented or loaned to you or in your care, custody or control (other than ÒhorsesÓ)

Horse limit:

-- $25,000 any one 'horse' in your care, custody or control

-- $25,000 in aggregate for 'horses' in your care, custody or control

-- $50,000 fire damage limit

Insurer: $2,500 medical payment limit any one person.

The certificate of liability insurance notes: "This contract is delivered as a surplus lines coverage under the surplus lines insurance act," and "The insurer issuing this contract is not licensed by the Colorado Division of insurance but rather is approved as a surplus lines insurer. The contract holder and/or named insurer are not protected by the provisions of the Colorado Insurance Guaranty Act."