The American Endurance Ride Conference will be having its first Sleeping Giant Endurance Ride in the Helena area this weekend featuring courses for equines and riders that range from 25 to 75 miles.
The event will be Saturday and Sunday at the Hilger Hereford and Sieben ranches north of Helena.
The Sleeping Giant Endurance Ride.
Vonnie Brown, one of the committee organizers, said they hoped to make this an annual event and said there are more 100 riders registered for this weekend.
“We’re very excited,” Brown said. “We would have been ecstatic if we had over 50 entries.”
Saturday will have rides of 25, 50 and 75 miles. Sunday will have rides of 25 and 50 miles. Noncompetitive trail/intro rides will also be offered both days.
Ava Depizzol, 15, of Boulder rides her 8-year-old gelding Arabian Ozstra Orzel at City of Rocks in southern Idaho. She will compete this weekend in the Sleeping Giant Endurance Ride.
Pre-ride vetting will begin 4 p.m. Friday. A ride camp has been set up at Exit 209.
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Brown said most of the people who are competitive will use an Arabian horse, as those horses have a better lung capacity. She said two veterinarians will be on-site to make sure horses are healthy.
The local event was organized by Brown, her husband David, Cindi Weist and Ann Morberg. Organizers said this is the first Sleeping Giant Endurance Ride, however, there were other long-distance rides in the area in the 1990s.
For more information, go to the Facebook page: https://go.helenair.com/upp1ze.
The California-based American Endurance Ride Conference is a nonprofit organization founded in 1972 as a national governing body for long-distance riding.
It encourages the use, protection and development of equestrian trails, especially those with historic significance.
The organization has four- to six-day events on historic trails, such as the Pony Express, the Outlaw, the Chief Joseph and the Lewis and Clark trails.
Phil Drake can be reached at phil.drake@helenair.com or 406-231-9021.
