Finalizing the Course

 August 29, 2026
Assunpink WMA
10.06 miles
4h42m

In which we complete our 100 miles of walking.

Taylor with their hand painted dragon banner!

The day before the Adventure at the Assunpink CMO, Taylor and I rode out to finalize the course set up. I was looking forward to another double digit ride with Maxwell. 

Sadly, Hannah wasn't able to join us this time. She had been out until the wee hours of the morning on set with some pigs. That's probably not a sentence anybody expected to read today.

I also wasn't expecting to figure out how to strap a nearly life-sized Medusa bust to an English saddle, but that also happened. What can I say? We really know how to party around here.

Taylor and I decided to ride the course in the opposite direction from the previous week. We figured it would be a good way to make sure the course could be navigated in reverse. It turns out this is a great way to mix things up, and added a challenging layer to the ride.

We started with the last objective we'd placed, which was below the hunt house. Even though we knew where it was and had a GPS pin saved on our phones, it took us a little while to locate the objective!

We agreed that the short course should generally be easier than the long course. Since this was #4 (short course) we made the clue placement more obvious.

I was really pleased with Max's behavior as usual, but I particularly enjoyed the fact that he was getting used to Roger coming and going. Max was very buddy sour when I got him, so I was delighted when Roger disappeared from view and Max quietly cocked a foot and awaited further instruction.

Taylor came up with a great collection of whimsical and on-theme clues and I really enjoyed each one as it was revealed to me. Favorites included the tankard, the dragon's skull, and the watchful owl. I hoped our competitors would enjoy them as much as I did!

How adorable is this guy?

Apparently, the local wildlife also enjoyed our objectives. One of the pie plates had gotten thoroughly chewed up!

This time, we had no trouble making our way to the graveyard. Here, Taylor used the existing natural clues of "cursed Obelisk" and "Taylor's grave". How fitting!

I'm not sure why creepy things keep following us on trail. It certainly has nothing to do with the regular desecration of graves on my rides...

Since I was unofficially mentoring Taylor on their first NACMO course, I spent some time talking about the different ways you can make an objective more challenging. You can hide the pie plate really well. You can make it difficult to navigate to a portion of the course. You can make the clues subtle or hard to find or a bit confusing. You can place the clue far away from the objective.

I tend to hide my pie plates really well while making the clues pretty obvious.

Taylor's MO was apparently the long send. While I might have hated this during competition, it made for a super fun course set up. I especially enjoyed traipsing around what I will forever call the Necromancy Field.

There were three of these signs. Taylor kindly specified that the middle one was the clue for this objective.

Taylor displays the Horse Lord's Banner.

And the Necromancy Banner, of course.

Taylor definitely leveled the clues up for this event and I told them I was going to need their creative mind for all my rides going forward. It was also way more fun to set up a course with a partner in crime.

This ride also featured an exciting milestone for Max and me! Right about where Taylor gently nestled Medusa along the trail, we reached our 100 miles of walking. Huzzah! 

I was really pleased with how quickly this process went. I acquired Max on July 8th. 52 days later, we had already done 100 miles together. I had enjoyed every ride! 

Now all bets were off!! We tore off like bats out of hell! 

Just kidding.

We did pick up a trot through the open fields though. Max's walk has improved dramatically over the miles. I knew his trot would eventually do the same, but when we first picked it up, he went into full giraffe mode. It's not his fault... he's never known anything else!

Still, I spent a little bit of time asking him to soften at the trot, working on his cadence and stride. He started to pick it up pretty quickly and I was excited to see how his gaits would develop over time. 

It has now been over a month since we crossed 100 miles, and I'm pleased to report that he has made just as much progress since then as he did up to that point! I forgot how much fun it is to bring along a new horse. I do love the process. 

Of course, I couldn't resist the urge to do a little victory canter at the end of our ride. Taylor and I circled the Bowl, picked a lovely uphill grassy stretch, and let the boys roll. We kept it to a dull roar on this day, but Max was on his absolute best behavior. He was happy to rate when I asked, but eager to hit the gas when I was ready. I bet Taylor and I will have lots of fun with this pair in the future. 

The day ended in success and was an excellent way to spend a gorgeous Saturday. The course was finalized. Now Taylor just had to go home and print the maps and clues. We would meet the following morning, bright and early, for registration. I hoped we would have a good turnout. This promised to be a fun event!

Full NACMO report coming up next!