Competitive Mounted Orienteering - Compass run

[WashingtonBay]

Hubby and I were out checking out the horse camp up at our trailhead this afternoon, thinking of camping there next weekend.

There was a "Competitive Mounted Orienteering - Compass run" going on. I'd never heard of this, so I went home and looked it up. Looks like fun!

NACMO - National Association of Competitive Mounted Orienteering (http://www.nacmo.org/)
Competitive Mounted Orienteering (CMO) is one of the most challenging and exciting equestrian sports - for the competitive as well as family horse rider! CMO is like a mounted treasure hunt, which tests your horsemanship, your map reading ability, and your compass skills - all while having great fun with your horse!

http://www.nacmo.org/graphics/ross.jpg
A CMO rider taking a compass bearing from a clue - A LARGE ROCK ON A STUMP.

CMO stresses sound horsemanship, and we like to call it "The Thinking Horse Sport"! The object of the sport is to ride out as an individual or a team on a prescribed course and find as many of the hidden Objective Stations as you can and get back in the least amount of time, on either a ten station long or 5 station short course.

http://www.nacmo.org/graphics/space.gif
The long course can be anywhere from a around 8 to as long as 25 miles. The terrain depends on the ride manager's choice of area - but CMO rides are held all over the country from the high forests of Washington State to the rolling hills of Indiana!

http://www.nacmo.org/graphics/space.gif
The short course is much smaller, and is oriented towards families, riders wishing a less competitive event, training of new horses, and new riders looking to check out the CMO fun.

(More info at the website)

[gabhainn]

That sounds pretty cool, so are you guys going to try it?...........Kevin

[WashingtonBay]

Well, it's a little late to try it today :p

But we might sometime... There's a number of competitions around the area on the schedule... many of them already missed for this year, but there's always next year ;).

[JetLagaside]

That sounds like fun!

[mare]

That would be interesting. My compass skills are... well, non-existant. I would like to learn.

[HeavensEast]

My mom and I did CMO once. It was really fun, but actually pretty difficult and made you think. We did the 5-mile ride, and you had to find 5 different paper plates hidden throughout the 5-mile distance and write a number down from the back of the plates. It took us about 4 hours. But that was our first one and we kind of took it slow. However, we did get 2nd place. :)

I would love to do it again, but I think the events are over for the year for Wisconsin.

[AppyLover]

That sounds like it would be fun.

[doc_western]

That sounds fun! Too bad I don't have a horse to do it with, lol. :innocent::p

[Remali]

That sounds like so much fun! I'd always wanted to try something like that....I wonder if they do that around here?!

ETA: Cool beans.....they DO have it here, in fact very close to where I live! Now...all I need is a horse... and a compass.....LOL.

[cheval]

They do this in Oregon. I helped judge one a couple of years ago. Gets pretty funny when you have more than one person at the same 'obstacle' trying to figure it out.

Even the horses really get into it.

[WashingtonBay]

Yeah - Remali, we need a compass too...

The rules say hubby's GPS is strictly prohibited :D

[cheval]

LOL - yeah they kind of frown on that!

The one we had wasn't sanctioned by the national group. It was more of an unofficial one to see if there was any interest in getting an Oregon chapter going. We did it a Milo McIver Park just south of Portland.

It was a real hoot.

[gabhainn]

That would be interesting. My compass skills are... well, non-existant. I would like to learn.
It is one of the skills I think everbody should learn, w/ hand held gps tho it is becoming a lost art..........................Kevin

[gabhainn]

Yeah - Remali, we need a compass too...

luckily a good silva compass costs less than 20 bucks, if it was me I would invest the money in a good brunton orienteering compass about 35 bucks at rei, u have several in washington............Kevin

[Ranger44]

I run into one or two of those events every year at the trail just down the road. It looks like they have a lot of fun doing it. It seems to be something I would try once I get a horse trained.

[Lego'sMegan]

Hubby and I were out checking out the horse camp up at our trailhead this afternoon, thinking of camping there next weekend.

There was a "Competitive Mounted Orienteering - Compass run" going on. I'd never heard of this, so I went home and looked it up. Looks like fun!

NACMO - National Association of Competitive Mounted Orienteering (http://www.nacmo.org/)Competitive Mounted Orienteering (CMO) is one of the most challenging and exciting equestrian sports - for the competitive as well as family horse rider! CMO is like a mounted treasure hunt, which tests your horsemanship, your map reading ability, and your compass skills - all while having great fun with your horse!

http://www.nacmo.org/graphics/ross.jpg
A CMO rider taking a compass bearing from a clue - A LARGE ROCK ON A STUMP.

CMO stresses sound horsemanship, and we like to call it "The Thinking Horse Sport"! The object of the sport is to ride out as an individual or a team on a prescribed course and find as many of the hidden Objective Stations as you can and get back in the least amount of time, on either a ten station long or 5 station short course.

http://www.nacmo.org/graphics/space.gif
The long course can be anywhere from a around 8 to as long as 25 miles. The terrain depends on the ride manager's choice of area - but CMO rides are held all over the country from the high forests of Washington State to the rolling hills of Indiana!

http://www.nacmo.org/graphics/space.gif
The short course is much smaller, and is oriented towards families, riders wishing a less competitive event, training of new horses, and new riders looking to check out the CMO fun.

(More info at the website)



hello Everyone!

I realize this is a really old thread, but I'm trying to find some people in my area that do mounted Orienteering. I've only seen a little bit of it mentioned. I'm located in SW Oklahoma and I can't imagine that I'm the only one that thinks this is cool! I've searched all over the web trying to find a group closer than 3 hours away and have had no luck. Anyone have any ideas?

[WashingtonBay]

Hi there and welcome :) I've not heard a lot about the sport since this thread was posted. We've got a few Oklahoma area members I think, and northern Texas... We'll see if your post gets any traction on it.

Either way, stick around, we're a friendly group :)

[Lego'sMegan]

Thanks! I'm originally from WA, my family is still there, but I married into the military and it's brought me to OK for the time being so I'm trying to make the best of it...lol As always, it's great for a while! I'm glad to have found this forum, I was hoping for something like this when I went searching for that sport. It just seems like a lot of fun.

I hope someone takes a look and has some ideas, 5 years in this area and I am still having trouble finding out about stuff! We are all just so spread out around here that it takes a bit for everyone to find things out!

[WashingtonBay]

One member and friend I have in OK used to do a lot of Competitive Trail Riding around there, I would look into that. She's not riding any more and was in the NE corner of the state, but she traveled all over the area. It's an interesting sport too.

[CaddoCinnamon]

They don't have any in KY anywhere. Oh well.

[Lego'sMegan]

I have seen ads for a couple competetive trail ride events in north texas where they had one day when they tried out the mounted orienteering. it seems to be catching on, but again, would rather do it more locally than a 3 hour drive! lol. As for KY, I would think it might be the same situation for you. they might have them as a side note with other events...we can hope, right?:p

[offgridgirl]

Shoot!! we do that all the time here and we don't have a compass:) Sooner or later you run into the ocean or someone's house, so you can't get too lost!! Sounds like fun...a treasure hunt on horse back....I'm gonna look into it...