Yesterday, me and some friends from the stable decided to check out an Orienteering event that was being held at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park in an effort to see if there were aspects that could be used to do something similar on horseback. One of my friends wants to start up horse orienteering here in Southern Calfornia so we were looking for some ideas.
Vasquesz Rocks is located off the I-14 by Canyon Country and it's been used to film many different films and TV shows because of teh unique rock formations (think Start Trek alien planets and the like). The LA Orienteering Club was sponsoring the event so we registered for the novice course.
I was expecting something like what I had to do in the land navigation exercises we used to do when I was in the Army (pre-GPS days!) so I was prepared to shoot bearings, determine azimuths, work with maps and the like. Also, we were expecting to hike 5 or 6 miles. As things turned out, we needn't have worried- the course was laid out along a series of roads and trails and you really didn't need a compass except to orient the map (which wasn't that hard). You just pretty much followed the road and hit each point. You were given an electronic marking device that you inserted into a special electronic box at each point (so basically you have an electronic confirmation that you'd reached a given point).
It was bit too easy for my taste and it was more focused on physical activity than anything else, that is it seemed to be more of a race and a lot of the partcipants were running their way through the course, especially the more advanced courses. I suppose it has it's place but we really didn't learn anything that would be of much use for horseback riding.
Still it was a good way to socialize and get a bit of exercise in and we actually came in 16 out of a field of 45 (which I find amazing since we were not really moving very fast at all).
Vasquesz Rocks is located off the I-14 by Canyon Country and it's been used to film many different films and TV shows because of teh unique rock formations (think Start Trek alien planets and the like). The LA Orienteering Club was sponsoring the event so we registered for the novice course.
I was expecting something like what I had to do in the land navigation exercises we used to do when I was in the Army (pre-GPS days!) so I was prepared to shoot bearings, determine azimuths, work with maps and the like. Also, we were expecting to hike 5 or 6 miles. As things turned out, we needn't have worried- the course was laid out along a series of roads and trails and you really didn't need a compass except to orient the map (which wasn't that hard). You just pretty much followed the road and hit each point. You were given an electronic marking device that you inserted into a special electronic box at each point (so basically you have an electronic confirmation that you'd reached a given point).
It was bit too easy for my taste and it was more focused on physical activity than anything else, that is it seemed to be more of a race and a lot of the partcipants were running their way through the course, especially the more advanced courses. I suppose it has it's place but we really didn't learn anything that would be of much use for horseback riding.
Still it was a good way to socialize and get a bit of exercise in and we actually came in 16 out of a field of 45 (which I find amazing since we were not really moving very fast at all).
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