USA: Rain hammers Roundup Ride at Chester, Georgia

News from Chester, Georgia:

"The ride started in the dark, but it was not raining. Within minutes of the start, the rain also started. We were hoping for just a light rain, but as the pictures show, the rain began coming down harder than I thought possible. Then the lightning started, and for a brief while, pea sized hail, too. The rain continued fairly steady, and frequently very heavy, throughout the day. We constantly were changing the trail going around new bogs, new streams, and then where the trail simply got too deep due to water and use. Finally, we had to call the
100-mile ride off at 88 miles due to deterioration of the trails. There
just were no other places to send the horses that was safe. The road in was being used by the tractor towing rigs out; the fields were knee-deep in mud; the trails had been ridden over too many times to even be passable. Moreover, too many horses were simply falling down on trail. We have notcompiled the stats for all the divisions, but despite only one metabolic
pull (thumps), the completion rate is very low."

Mike Tomlinson
photos by M. Tomlinson