Forest venue for endurance horse ride

Roy Counsell, riding Kintamani Ragindi in a time of six hours and 16 minutes, was the outright winner of the 2007 Norman Bradley Memorial 100-kilometre Tumbarumba endurance ride. Photo by Rob Jackson/Tumbarumba Times.

State forests and private property around Tumbarumba provided the perfect venue for a world-class endurance ride held over Easter in April this year.

Endurance riding is one of the fastest growing horse sports, both nationally and internationally, and has a long association with Tumbarumba.

The Tumbarumba endurance ride was reintroduced last year with great success. This year, there were 116 entrants in the three events run from the Tumbarumba Racecourse – a 100-kilometre ‘elevator’ ride, an 84-kilometre ride, and a 40-kilometre training ride to encourage people to come along and try the sport.

Secretary of the Tumbarumba endurance ride, Angelina Patterson, said 75 per cent of riders completed the courses, which was pleasing.

“Endurance riding is a highly professional and competitive horse sport – a bit like marathon running on horseback.

“You have to be very dedicated because it is not as easy as it may seem to get a horse to the level of fitness to do long distance rides,” she said.

Forests NSW forester based at Tumbarumba, Chris Rhynehart, said endurance riding was a great way to showcase the forests and the timber industry in the region from both a recreational, commercial and environmentally sustainable point of view.

“Forests NSW is delighted to be able to help with the mapping and layout of the courses for such a successful event, which provides a great boost to the local economy during the Easter weekend,” he said.

In particular, he mentioned the assistance provided by Forests NSW Peter Haenig, who was on the event’s organising committee, and helped map the course.