08/12/2026
“I accidentally signed up for …” is peak Elizabeth. In this instance, “I accidentally signed up to do my longest Ride and Tie ever (20 miles) with R&T legends Janice (the winningest and highest mileage R&T runner) and her horse Rushcreek Bobby (fully fledged person, snack connoisseur, PhD in hooman studies) and somehow managed to sign up for not one, but two days of 20-mile Ride and Ties over this August’s OD Ride and Tie weekend.”
OD Ride and Tie weekend starts with a clinic for new athletes followed by a Saturday night competition and then a Sunday morning competition. Estrella came along as a lease horse for Kelly and new Ride and Tie athlete Christina.
Arriving at OD basecamp Saturday late afternoon, Elizabeth got Estrella settled and vetted before getting dressed for the 20-mile Ride and Tie with Bobby and Janice. Starting at 6pm, the teams headed out on course. Elizabeth wanted no part of tying in/near/around the infamous OD ant hills, so Janice took the first ride so Bobby could be safely tied. From there, we kept up with ties for Elizabeth and flying ties for Janice most of the course. About an hour in the humidity started to drop making things more pleasant. Climbing the infamous OD Beast of the East (smaller version) to Bird Haven, we modified to shorter ties to give everyone better breaks. We took a few turns coming down the fire road to break up the downhill and cruised through Bird Haven as dark was really settling in. Now in Elizabeth’s favorite riding time with cooler and drier air, Bobby picked up the pace.
Before we knew it, we were coming up to Shrinemont and greeted by the sounds of an outdoor concert. Due to the terrain, it seemed a bit like the music was moving or coming from all directions at times. Horse and human were of slightly different opinions if this was cool or not. Janice took Bobby along to the ant-free tie zone then ran into finish. Elizabeth caught up to Bobby and rode into finish, completing the 20-mile course at about 10pm in first place!
Estrella and teammates Kelly and Christina had a great time on the 12-mile course. Estrella felt the need to live up to her ‘spicy’ and ‘likes to go fast’ reputation by taking an unapproved jaunt into Bird Haven to look for snacks (no snacks were found) before being reunited with her 2-legged teammates for the second half of the course. Trial by fire for first time Ride and Tier Christina, but apparently not enough to scare her off! Hijinks aside, Estrella and team finished the 12-miler in first place!
What do you do when you’ve just won the longest Ride and Tie of your life? Well, take a 5-hour nap and do it all again! Sunday morning Bobby graciously agreed to run around the woods with Janice and Elizabeth for another 20 miles. This time the course was ‘backwards’ with the long climb going up the fire road and then downhill for OD’s famous rocks. Bobby did not approve this course change and was offended. Elizabeth tried hiking down with him, but this still did not meet standards. Emotional support carrots were offered, accepted, but did not change Bobby’s emotional status. Eventually, Elizabeth had to sternly speak Bobby’s full government name. We finally made it to the bottom of the climb and remounted to go find poor Janice, who had been on foot for about 4 miles by this point. Bobby cantered some lovely sandy bits, found his mom, and was immediately disappointed when it wasn’t time for a tie break.
The last few miles cruised by with short ties, once again negotiating around the ant hills, and Janice outrunning Bobby and Elizabeth into finish again. Despite competing against fresh legs, Bobby is such a superstar that he once again won the 20-mile Ride and Tie on Sunday for Janice and Elizabeth, with only about 30 minutes extra time over Saturday.
Meanwhile, Estrella developed some chill and cruised through her second day on the 12-mile course with teammates Kelly and Christina. Ironically to Estrella, but not anyone else, it is actually faster to be cooperative than 100%MARE and the team cut their completion time in half! Not to be outdone by Bobby, Estrella also won her ride on Sunday.
Thank you to Rushcreek Bobby, honorary Morgan, the GOAT, for 40 awesome miles. Thank you to Janice for sharing Bobby, inviting Elizabeth, and generally being a legend. Thank you to Bob for the PBJ at finish, hot water in the shower, and super cool custom awards. Thanks to Kelly and the rest of the volunteers for hosting OD Ride and Tie Weekend. Thanks to Kelly and Christina for taking such good care of Estrella.
Low quality pics of a high quality horse by Elizabeth
