A Program for all Trail Riders:
Top Trail
Top Trail member Patty Ann Shay at a river crossing with her TWH, Moon, and trail dogs Ruby & Onyx
with Google Earth for the off-road rides to get an estimate of the ridden mileage. These days we have a multitude of options to record our trail tracks from using our smart phones equipped with GPS, to slick handhelds like a Garmin.
Distance competitions are incredibly fun and challenging. They're also filled with camaraderie and learning opportunities. I’ve been participating in competitive riding (CTR) and limited distance endurance (LD) since 2002, but it can get expensive. For example, it’s common to start with a tent and a little bumper pull and before you know it you’re driving a one ton pickup pulling a gorgeous, decked out LQ. Add to that camping gear, travel expense, entry fees,
and more— not to mention oodles of tack and expensive saddles. And if for some unforseen reason you don’t complete a ride, you don’t get credit for the ridden miles. I kept thinking how fun it would be to see how ALL my trail miles compare to others’ mileage across the entire country. And so, I put my thoughts into action and created the Top Trail Horse program (www.toptrailhorse.com).
Top Trail was formed primarily to satisfy my need to track my mileage, a little friendly competition, and to have fun while my horse(s) and I are getting great conditioning. It’s also for riders, such as myself, who have that need to track their miles and see their trails mapped because I like to keep a record of my all my ride miles: fun, conditioning, and competitive. I now have a Top Trail ride log and each of my horses have their very own ride log as well. When we reach milestones along the way, we earn Top Trail certificates and patches to commemorate them.
Competition comes in the form of Challenges: all of which are completed by riders and their equines hailing from across the country who pick their own trail!
Once a rider becomes a member of the Top Trail community, all challenge entry fees are waived! We currently have 62 opportunities for members to win a Top Trail Challenge, so long as he/she logs their trail rides. Join one of our Affiliate Groups, and there are even MORE opportunities to claim a prize.
The Top Trail program actually began as a Facebook Group in 2013, with the main competitive attraction being the Trail Horse Challenge. Because I’d been burned in the past by other riding programs where people reported their hours or miles by submitting a form, and no one knew where they stood until the end of the year — and even then, it was susceptible to the occasional fudged results. It was then that the decision was made to accept only recorded GPS tracks for a fairness to all and the added ability to see standings in as close to real time as possible.
Equine mileage was recorded on a spreadsheet when we first started. This form of record keeping became more and more difficult for me — especially as our membership grew! Fortunately, the Open Trail Project website (trail sharing website) allowed us to use their site for our tracking purposes, and this helped us get a great start!
Top Trail eventually began to evolve past the limitations of the Open Trail website’s abilities, and it became obvious we needed more flexibility and control to do that, so the decision was made to move the program to it’s own internet domain.
On January 1st of this year, we rolled out the new Top Trail Horse website. Most of our existing members transferred their miles to the new program, and many new members we’ve picked up along the way makes me incredibly grateful.
There’s so much packed into our program. It’s not just about riding to win! It’s about getting out and riding, enjoying the outdoors, connecting with others, and tracking miles. Whether it takes our riders years to reach milestones or mere months—it’s all good! Top Trail Horse members are there to celebrate with you whenever you get there!
Since the first of this year, our members have ridden over 17,000+ trail miles — a great indication that we are getting out there and riding!! It’s important that we continue to improve so we have sought feedback from our members, and plan to incorporate many of the suggestions they took time to provide, in the coming year.
We welcome all riders (and those who drive their horses, as well) to join our community. We are supportive, seek to build each other up and recognize great horsemanship on the journey. So if you would like a little encouragement to get out and ride, please join us! www.toptrailhorse.com
36 / Sport and Trail Magazine
Distance competitions are incredibly fun and challenging. They're also filled with camaraderie and learning opportunities. I’ve been participating in competitive riding (CTR) and limited distance endurance (LD) since 2002, but it can get expensive. For example, it’s common to start with a tent and a little bumper pull and before you know it you’re driving a one ton pickup pulling a gorgeous, decked out LQ. Add to that camping gear, travel expense, entry fees,
and more— not to mention oodles of tack and expensive saddles. And if for some unforseen reason you don’t complete a ride, you don’t get credit for the ridden miles. I kept thinking how fun it would be to see how ALL my trail miles compare to others’ mileage across the entire country. And so, I put my thoughts into action and created the Top Trail Horse program (www.toptrailhorse.com).
Top Trail was formed primarily to satisfy my need to track my mileage, a little friendly competition, and to have fun while my horse(s) and I are getting great conditioning. It’s also for riders, such as myself, who have that need to track their miles and see their trails mapped because I like to keep a record of my all my ride miles: fun, conditioning, and competitive. I now have a Top Trail ride log and each of my horses have their very own ride log as well. When we reach milestones along the way, we earn Top Trail certificates and patches to commemorate them.
Competition comes in the form of Challenges: all of which are completed by riders and their equines hailing from across the country who pick their own trail!
Once a rider becomes a member of the Top Trail community, all challenge entry fees are waived! We currently have 62 opportunities for members to win a Top Trail Challenge, so long as he/she logs their trail rides. Join one of our Affiliate Groups, and there are even MORE opportunities to claim a prize.
The Top Trail program actually began as a Facebook Group in 2013, with the main competitive attraction being the Trail Horse Challenge. Because I’d been burned in the past by other riding programs where people reported their hours or miles by submitting a form, and no one knew where they stood until the end of the year — and even then, it was susceptible to the occasional fudged results. It was then that the decision was made to accept only recorded GPS tracks for a fairness to all and the added ability to see standings in as close to real time as possible.
Equine mileage was recorded on a spreadsheet when we first started. This form of record keeping became more and more difficult for me — especially as our membership grew! Fortunately, the Open Trail Project website (trail sharing website) allowed us to use their site for our tracking purposes, and this helped us get a great start!
Top Trail eventually began to evolve past the limitations of the Open Trail website’s abilities, and it became obvious we needed more flexibility and control to do that, so the decision was made to move the program to it’s own internet domain.
On January 1st of this year, we rolled out the new Top Trail Horse website. Most of our existing members transferred their miles to the new program, and many new members we’ve picked up along the way makes me incredibly grateful.
There’s so much packed into our program. It’s not just about riding to win! It’s about getting out and riding, enjoying the outdoors, connecting with others, and tracking miles. Whether it takes our riders years to reach milestones or mere months—it’s all good! Top Trail Horse members are there to celebrate with you whenever you get there!
Since the first of this year, our members have ridden over 17,000+ trail miles — a great indication that we are getting out there and riding!! It’s important that we continue to improve so we have sought feedback from our members, and plan to incorporate many of the suggestions they took time to provide, in the coming year.
We welcome all riders (and those who drive their horses, as well) to join our community. We are supportive, seek to build each other up and recognize great horsemanship on the journey. So if you would like a little encouragement to get out and ride, please join us! www.toptrailhorse.com
GPS Tracked Mileage Program for Trail Riders
I
've got a confession: I was thinking only of me and my horse when first I brainstormed and mapped out the Top Trail Horse program. I’ve long wanted a way of tracking just how many miles I've ridden in a specific place and/or period, as well as a grand total, in general. Plus…I’m a little competitive. That's when I found out that I’m not alone!
I started using my planner in ‘02 to record my ride mileage and notes as I was conditioning for distance riding competitions. It might sound crazy but I didn’t have a GPS, so I was clocking my mileage with my truck pre- or post-ride, since the trails I rode were mostly back-country roads adjacent to my ranch. I became well acquainted with Google Earth for the off-road rides to get an estimate of the ridden mileage. These days we have a multitude of options to record our trail tracks from using our smart phones equipped with GPS, to slick handhelds like a Garmin.
Distance competitions are incredibly fun and challenging. They're also filled with camaraderie and learning opportunities. I’ve been participating in competitive riding (CTR) and limited distance endurance (LD) since 2002, but it can get expensive. For example, it’s common to start with a tent and a little bumper pull and before you know it you’re driving a one ton pickup pulling a gorgeous, decked out LQ. Add to that camping gear, travel expense, entry fees, and more— not to mention oodles of tack and expensive saddles. And if for some unforseen reason you don’t complete a ride, you don’t get credit for the ridden miles. I kept thinking how fun it would be to see how ALL my trail miles compare to others’ mileage across the entire country. And so, I put my thoughts into action and created the Top Trail Horse program (www.toptrailhorse.com).
Top Trail was formed primarily to satisfy my need to track my mileage, a little friendly competition, and to have fun while my horse(s) and I are getting great conditioning. It’s also for riders, such as myself, who have that need to track their miles and see their trails mapped because I like to keep a record of my all my ride miles: fun, conditioning, and competitive. I now have a Top Trail ride log and each of my horses have their very own ride log as well. When we reach milestones along the way, we earn Top Trail certificates and patches to commemorate them.
Competition comes in the form of Challenges: all of which are completed by riders and their equines hailing from across the country who pick their own trail!
Once a rider becomes a member of the Top Trail community, all challenge entry fees are waived! We currently have 62 opportunities for members to win a Top Trail Challenge, so long as he/she logs their trail rides. Join one of our Affiliate Groups, and there are even MORE opportunities to claim a prize.
The Top Trail program actually began as a Facebook Group in 2013, with the main competitive attraction being the Trail Horse Challenge. Because I’d been burned in the past by other riding programs where people reported their hours or miles by submitting a form, and no one knew where they stood until the end of the year — and even then, it was susceptible to the occasional fudged results. It was then that the decision was made to accept only recorded GPS tracks for a fairness to all and the added ability to see standings in as close to real time as possible.
Equine mileage was recorded on a spreadsheet when we first started. This form of record keeping became more and more difficult for me — especially as our membership grew! Fortunately, the Open Trail Project website (trail sharing website) allowed us to use their site for our tracking purposes, and this helped us get a great start!
Top Trail eventually began to evolve past the limitations of the Open Trail website’s abilities, and it became obvious we needed more flexibility and control to do that, so the decision was made to move the program to it’s own internet domain.
On January 1st of this year, we rolled out the new Top Trail Horse website. Most of our existing members transferred their miles to the new program, and many new members we’ve picked up along the way makes me incredibly grateful.
There’s so much packed into our program. It’s not just about riding to win! It’s about getting out and riding, enjoying the outdoors, connecting with others, and tracking miles. Whether it takes our riders years to reach milestones or mere months—it’s all good! Top Trail Horse members are there to celebrate with you whenever you get there!
Since the first of this year, our members have ridden over 17,000+ trail miles — a great indication that we are getting out there and riding!! It’s important that we continue to improve so we have sought feedback from our members, and plan to incorporate many of the suggestions they took time to provide, in the coming year.
We welcome all riders (and those who drive their horses, as well) to join our community. We are supportive, seek to build each other up and recognize great horsemanship on the journey. So if you would like a little encouragement to get out and ride, please join us! www.toptrailhorse.com
ridden in a specific place and/or period, as well as a grand total, in general. Plus…I’m a little competitive. That's when I found out that I’m not alone!
I started using my planner in ‘02 to record my ride mileage and notes as I was conditioning for distance riding competitions. It might sound crazy but I didn’t have a GPS, so I was clocking my mileage with my truck pre- or post-ride, since the trails I rode were mostly back-country roads adjacent to my ranch. I became well acquainted with Google Earth for the off-road rides to get an estimate of the ridden mileage. These days we have a multitude of options to record our trail tracks from using our smart phones equipped with GPS, to slick handhelds like a Garmin.
Distance competitions are incredibly fun and challenging. They're also filled with camaraderie and learning opportunities. I’ve been participating in competitive riding (CTR) and limited distance endurance (LD) since 2002, but it can get expensive. For example, it’s common to start with a tent and a little bumper pull and before you know it you’re driving a one ton pickup pulling a gorgeous, decked out LQ. Add to that camping gear, travel expense, entry fees,
and more— not to mention oodles of tack and expensive saddles. And if for some unforseen reason you don’t complete a ride, you don’t get credit for the ridden miles. I kept thinking how fun it would be to see how ALL my trail miles compare to others’ mileage across the entire country. And so, I put my thoughts into action and created the Top Trail Horse program (www.toptrailhorse.com).
Top Trail was formed primarily to satisfy my need to track my mileage, a little friendly competition, and to have fun while my horse(s) and I are getting great conditioning. It’s also for riders, such as myself, who have that need to track their miles and see their trails mapped because I like to keep a record of my all my ride miles: fun, conditioning, and competitive. I now have a Top Trail ride log and each of my horses have their very own ride log as well. When we reach milestones along the way, we earn Top Trail certificates and patches to commemorate them.
Competition comes in the form of Challenges: all of which are completed by riders and their equines hailing from across the country who pick their own trail!
Once a rider becomes a member of the Top Trail community, all challenge entry fees are waived! We currently have 62 opportunities for members to win a Top Trail Challenge, so long as he/she logs their trail rides. Join one of our Affiliate Groups, and there are even MORE opportunities to claim a prize.
The Top Trail program actually began as a Facebook Group in 2013, with the main competitive attraction being the Trail Horse Challenge. Because I’d been burned in the past by other riding programs where people reported their hours or miles by submitting a form, and no one knew where they stood until the end of the year — and even then, it was susceptible to the occasional fudged results. It was then that the decision was made to accept only recorded GPS tracks for a fairness to all and the added ability to see standings in as close to real time as possible.
Equine mileage was recorded on a spreadsheet when we first started. This form of record keeping became more and more difficult for me — especially as our membership grew! Fortunately, the Open Trail Project website (trail sharing website) allowed us to use their site for our tracking purposes, and this helped us get a great start!
Top Trail eventually began to evolve past the limitations of the Open Trail website’s abilities, and it became obvious we needed more flexibility and control to do that, so the decision was made to move the program to it’s own internet domain.
On January 1st of this year, we rolled out the new Top Trail Horse website. Most of our existing members transferred their miles to the new program, and many new members we’ve picked up along the way makes me incredibly grateful.
There’s so much packed into our program. It’s not just about riding to win! It’s about getting out and riding, enjoying the outdoors, connecting with others, and tracking miles. Whether it takes our riders years to reach milestones or mere months—it’s all good! Top Trail Horse members are there to celebrate with you whenever you get there!
Since the first of this year, our members have ridden over 17,000+ trail miles — a great indication that we are getting out there and riding!! It’s important that we continue to improve so we have sought feedback from our members, and plan to incorporate many of the suggestions they took time to provide, in the coming year.
We welcome all riders (and those who drive their horses, as well) to join our community. We are supportive, seek to build each other up and recognize great horsemanship on the journey. So if you would like a little encouragement to get out and ride, please join us! www.toptrailhorse.com