Mounted orienteering is the practice of orienteering while riding a horse or other riding animal.

History

Mounted orienteering was an important function of cavalry units and today remains an important skill for

mounted search and rescue Mounted search and rescue (MSAR) is a specialty within search and rescue (SAR), using horses as search partners and for transportation to search for missing persons. SAR responders on horseback are primarily a search resource, but also can provid ...

Competitive sport

Mounted orienteering can be completed competitively, either as a discipline in its own right, or as part of a multi-discipline sport such as Trec. The rules between governing bodies vary widely, although all require horsemanship and the ability to read a

map A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...

and use a

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself wit ...

. There are significant differences between mounted orienteering rules and those set down for foot orienteering by the

International Orienteering Federation The International Orienteering Federation (IOF) is the international governing body of the sport of orienteering. The IOF head office is located in Karlstad, Sweden. The IOF governs four orienteering disciplines: foot orienteering, mountain bi ...

. Differences concern the

, course, route choice, and control points. Both sports use available maps, usually but not necessarily topographic maps. These maps generally are not appropriate for teaching beginning competitors to use the more advanced skills of field navigation. Hence, the required navigational skills are kept simple.

North America

American (NACMO) mounted orienteering competitions resemble rogaining in that courses are long and competitors choose the order in which to seek control points, and resemble

treasure hunting Treasure hunter is the physical search for treasure. For example, treasure hunters try to find sunken shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts with market value. This industry is generally fueled by the market for antiquities. The practice of treasure ...

fox Oring Fox Oring is a variation of the sport of Amateur Radio Direction Finding. Fox Oring is a timed race in which individual competitors use a topographic map and a magnetic compass to navigate through diverse, wooded terrain while searching for radi ...

in that once in the vicinity of a control point the task is to search for (rather than navigate to) a landmark and from there follow a compass heading to the control point. The landmark is described on a clue sheet, and often is not a feature on the map; e.g., the landmark might be a tree of a noted species and size, perhaps marked in some way for the competition. There will be several landmarks in the vicinity of the control point, usually on trails. The intent is to permit competitors who find more than one landmark to use them to

triangulate In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by forming triangles to the point from known points. Applications In surveying Specifically in surveying, triangulation involves only angle me ...

the location of the control point on their map, then ride by the most efficient route directly to the control point.

Europe

In Europe, there is little mounted orienteering as a stand-alone sport, although there are significant elements present in endurance riding and as a specific event in the multi-discipline sport of Trec.

References

External links

International Federation of Equestrian TourismNorth American Mounted Orienteering
Endurance and trail riding Orienteering {{equestrian-stub