Reprinted from Endurance News, August 2006, Ride Managers’ Column, monthly publication of the American Endurance Ride Conference, www.aerc.org, 866-271-2372
Ask most ride managers how they feel about parking at their ride camp, and at a minimum you’re likely to get an eye roll, a head shake accompanied by a heavy sigh, perhaps a curse. In fact, I’m told that there are former ride managers who retired from the job largely as a result of the frustrations of managing the parking at their ride.
Some rides, no doubt, are lucky. Huge, open areas with forgiving terrain and sandy soil are a godsend for ride managers. Or rides with plenty of clearly designated parking areas and hardy gravel. Other ride camps have unique challenges: Parking on a hill. Parking in a wooded area. Parking in extremely limited space. Parking in an area surrounded by wetlands. Parking on soil that turns to slop at the first sprinkle.
For some of us riders, parking is one of the biggest challenges of competing. We arrive at camp, we hem and we haw, we scope out the possibility of shade, the proximity of water, and the “neighbors” who have already parked.
I used to think that it was only my husband and I who argued about where and how to park, but now I see that trailer parking creates a great deal of marital discord. I’ve personally addressed this issue by learning to unload the horses immediately upon arriving at camp, and taking them for a graze/hand walk, not returning until the trailer is parked and level. Until death do us part!
A good parking spot can be almost as good as an experienced crew, making it easier to take care of ourselves and our horses due to our proximity to the hold area. Other riders like their privacy, and to them the best parking spot is the most secluded one.
Making parking easier
There are some things you can do to ease the ride manager’s role as Parking Police (a job we ride managers really hate!): Check in with the ride manager or staff prior to parking. There might be some guidance you’ll get about the direction in which to park rigs, or areas to keep clear, or some information about a prime spot close to the P&R area.
Ask the ride manager before saving parking spots for others. Some are okay with this practice; others discourage it, having experienced the frustration of riders saving large spaces for riders who were no-shows, leaving a prime parking spot vacant on ride day.
Choosing your spot
Look around before picking your parking spot. Will you be blocking access to water? Will you be crowding the in-timer? Are you parking in the middle of the designated crewing area? If you park next to that tree, will your horse chew on the bark and kill it? Will other rigs be able to get in and out around you? Is everyone parked perpendicular to a fence line? (It might make sense for you to park in the same pattern rather than parallel to the fence, yes?)
If you get in, will you be able to get out? Ask yourself if this is a spot you’ll be able to vacate when the ride is over. What if you get pulled early in the rideÑwill you be stuck waiting for the 100-miler blocking you in to move before you can get out?
If it rains, will you be stuck? Many experienced competitors suggest parking facing downhill to give you a little added help should Mother Nature turn that nice grassy field into a muddy bog.
At many rides, parking is tight. These rides are not the place to create a half-acre paddock for Flicka. If you have to ask yourself if your paddock area is too big, it probably is. Why not make your paddock smaller, and simply take your horse for more hand walks/grazes throughout the weekend? Can you consolidate the space between your friend’s trailer next door and yours and put two horses side by side between the rigs? How can you help save space?
Security issues
Is your camp/horse area secure? Be sure your horse is familiar with the way you’ll be confining him for the weekend. We all have nightmarish loose horse stories. Have you placed your paddocks or picket line such that your horses are less likely to be disturbed by horses galloping through camp in the middle of the night?
Clean-up considerations
How will this parking area look when I leave? Do I need to move manure and leftover hay to a designated spot? Is this someone’s pasture for the other 360 days of the year? Do I spread clean hay thinly to encourage grass growth? There’s nothing worse for a pasture than thickly packed-down hay and manure. Rake, rake, rake — so we can be invited back.
Ride manager issues
Ride managers do their best to ensure parking for everyone at their ride is adequate and safe. Some resort to designating parking areas for large rigs versus small rigs, some are required to separate FEI camping areas, and some designate camping with paddocks versus camping without paddocks. Some rides hand out parking maps so that riders know how to park within the camp area to best utilize space and ensure smooth exit at the end of the ride. Others have parking coordinators who suggest parking spots and wag their fingers at riders gobbling up too much space or stealing the designated spot for a key volunteer. Most try to have a tractor on site when it is clear that they might have to tow rigs out due to an incoming storm front.
And ride managers have stories! Stories of riders asked to arrive early with their ginormous rig to secure a parking spot and being the last to show up on the scene. Stories of riders and crews asking to be towed out of a muddy camp with the tractor to go for dinner, then again later to run for supplies. Stories of riders driving directly into a visible, deep ditch along the camp road rather than waiting a moment for a pick-up truck to move out of the way. Stories of riders getting stuck in the single large puddle in an otherwise dry and wide-open camp.
Save yourself from being a ride manager’s “you won’t believe this one!” campfire story by giving some thought to how and where you park at your next ride.
Sidebar: Proper care and feeding of your hauling vehicle, by Richard Stedman
Hi. I’m your hauling vehicle. Weekend after weekend and year after year, I watch you pamper those silly horses and neglect me horribly. Then I have an evil giggle when you commiserate about how your tranny blew, or how you had three blown tires, or how your vehicles just donÕt seem to hold up the way others do. For my sake, and the sake of my compadres, let me give you a few tips:
Be sure I have enough towing capacity, and more critically, enough braking capacity to haul your trailer. Ask around. The person selling your vehicle to you may not be the most knowledgeable or forthright on this topic.
I watch you take great care of that horse when he’s out of the trailer, but why do you drive through ride camp so fast that people hanging around can hear him bouncing around off the walls of your trailer? You got there, for heaven’s sake. Slow down. Especially if the camping area is rutted or bumpy.
You warm up your horse, you cool it down. Why not with me? Hauling vehicles, particularly diesels, need about five minutes to warm up to distribute oils and, likewise, about five minutes to cool down to dissipate them. When you pull into camp and shut off your hot diesel engine, you’re doing irreparable damage. Every time.
That 4×4 you have needs to get used to stay functional. At least a few times a year, take me off-road, lock in the hubs, engage the 4×4 and make sure everything is working smoothly. The first muddy ride of the year is not the best time to engage the 4×4 “for the first time in years!”
You wouldn’t ride your horse with worn or missing shoes, so don’t drive me without checking my tire pressure prior to leaving home, and at every fuel stop along the way. Don’t forget the trailer tires!
You bring extra supplies and medicines for your horse, right? Have the basics with you for my care, too: tire iron, jack, tire pressure gauge, heavy duty jumper cables, extra oil, brake and transmission fluid, and antifreeze. Take good care of me, and I’ll take good care of you too!