Quality rides do not just happen, they take preparation and planning from the ride management. Awards, food and amenities are often confused for quality in a ride from unknowing ride managers. A ride manager can provide the best meal and completion awards along with a great camp site that offers electrical hook-ups or showers but still not provide a quality ride.

"Successful" rides are often measured with the number of entrants, but even this does not necessarily mean the ride was a quality ride. Oftentime rides are well attended only because of location or other reasons in spite of the lack of management quality. Three things add up to a quality ride:

Great vetting

All riders have come to expect that ride managers have done their job in locating and hiring competent ride veterinarians. Ride managers need to hire a knowledgeable head veterinarian as well as a treatment veterinarian. A rider should not have to attend a ride where the veterinarians take 10 minutes to vet each horse through because they do not understand how endurance vetting procedures work or because of the ride manager's lack of planning for the proper amount of veterinarians.

A well-marked, safe trail

We have all been to rides that are very well managed with the exception that all the riders were lost on the trail. We have been to rides where we have felt the trail could have been better marked, and those that could have been improved by making riders aware of dangerous situations.

Try to lay out the most scenic, interesting trail as possible in your setting. This takes a lot of exploration and scoutingÑand study of maps and aerials if they are available (Google Earth helps)Ñin essence, try to lay out trails you enjoy riding and like to share with your entrants. A quality ride reflects the RM's determination to lay out trails that are also enjoyable from an aesthetic standpoint.

Keeping the trail safe may mean checking the natural water availability on the trail and if no natural water is available, it may be that you will need to set out troughs where possible or take a scenic route down to the river or lake or even a cattle water tank.

Adequate volunteers

Rides with the proper number of volunteers run much more smoothly. Every ride manager depends greatly on volunteers for their ride's success. Ride managers need to line up the volunteers in advance of their ride. Sometimes it comes down to giving discounts to riders if their family members agree to help either with pulse taking, vet scribing or timing.

"Greeting with a smile" at whatever place they may be stationed really makes riders feel welcome, whether it is at registration, a timing spot, or out on the trail. It gives the tired rider a boost to be warmly greeted, and leaves a feeling of "I want to come back to this ride." Without the proper number of volunteers the ride will not be a quality ride.

All ride managers know that rides do not always go as planned. Things can and will go wrong during our rides. Your veterinarian may have a family emergency or more riders may show up than had preregistered, so you may be short on veterinarians. The trail marking can be sabotaged or rough weather can make the trail more treacherous than what you had expected. Volunteers may not show due to bad weather or other circumstances. In any of these cases, as long as the ride manager has a good plan, he or she will be able to handle whatever comes up and roll with the punches.

If you provide the riders with these three essentials -- great vetting, a well-marked and safe trail, and adequate volunteersÑyour entrants will appreciate your efforts even if unforeseen things go wrong.

A ride that only offers the "bare bones" but gives the rider great vetting, well-marked, safe trails and adequate volunteers will be quality ride and will more than likely be a successful ride.

A ride manager can add to these basics, making their ride even nicer but without theseÑno matter how many amenities they offerÑthe ride will not have the quality that riders desire. All the efforts that ride managers take to make their ride successful are in vain if these three points are not the foundation of the ride.