January 21, 2017

NACMO : The Thinking (person's) Sport

God willing and the truck situation gets cured I hope to venture out and ride CMO this year.  If you don't know what CMO (Competitive Mounted Orienteering) is well let me just make it easy.


FUN

Yes, that is the short course in a nut-shell.  CMO is fun.   The idea of a CMO ride is that you are going to get a map.  On that map will be circles that indicate you are now in the zone of finding a marker.   You will also have a couple of clues and when you find the object related to them, you will then set your compass and ride that reading until you find the marker (a white paper plate with something written on it that you note on your map next to the clue).   It honestly sounds harder than it is and I believe that those that hear about it think....oh....I couldn't do that.

Check out this link Treasure Hunt on Horseback

Well sure you can.    It is challenging, but not "hard".    You just need to be able to follow a map (my weakness), learn to set your compass (easy peasy), have a mind that can solve a visual riddle ( are you looking for a bridge? a log spanning a stream? a carving in a tree's bark, a tree with strange conformation, or a tree in a specific location?  A green gate post? ) See, not that hard.   The hardest one I encountered was a "snake bark tree".  Oh you should have heard the gnashing of teeth! I did finally locate it, and it was as plain as day.  The bark on that tree did remind you of a snake.

You can form teams (we all know I believe in team stuff) or you can ride solo against other solo riders.  You can aim for a national championship, or just take each ride for the fun of it!

CMO is also the least expensive horse sport that you might ever participate in.  The people I met were all just really welcoming, warm, friendly people.   That is saying something coming from me as I tend to lean towards "social outcast" but they did, they made me feel very welcome.

CMO is the fastest I've ever ridden any kind of competition, and the slowest I've ever ridden period.  In that way it can pretty much be what you aim for on a given day.  The only thing wrong with CMO is we need to have more of them, lots of them, EVERYWHERE.

Read about NACMO the supporting organization.  Check out a ride near you.

Upcoming Indiana rides:

So far our 2017 schedule looks like this:

March 11 - 2016 Season Awards Banquet and Annual business meeting
May 6 & 7 - Crazy Acres - Danielle Popovich
June 17 & 18 - Midwest Trail Ride - Caldwells
Aug. 26 & 27 - Kankakee River - Christina Sepiol
Sept. 9 & 10 - Middle Fork - Beth Colla
Oct. 14 & 15 - Matthiessen - Marti, Jeanie, Colleen, Sara

 Rena Bartlett in KY is hoping to host a ride at Taylorsville SP.


1 comment:

  1. I intended on starting CMO in Germany when I arrived 10 years ago. However, I gave up the idea because you are not allowed to ride off trail.

    BTW when you ride alone, you are also competing against the teams, which makes it even more rewarding if you win.

    CMO, making endurance seem easy since 1983

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