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Located outside of The Sanctuary proper between Riverfall and the facility itself lies a well groomed cross country equestrian training course that is open to the public. Wolf Creek, however, is on The Sanctuary's land.
This course lies tucked into the ten mile strip of fringe forest that borders the ocean on the outskirts of the pastures surrounding The Sanctuary. It can be accessed off the side road that leads to The Sanctuary and is clearly marked with a map carved onto the sign to give riders a clear indication of which way to go. All trail splits are clearly marked and all obstacles have 'refusal' routes if riders decide the obstacle is outside their comfort zone and want to ride their mounts around them. This holds true for the water crossings as well. Even if the water courses have jumps down or up there will be a shallow ford either upstream or downstream of the jump marked by a staff that's flagged.
Throughout the course there are picnic areas, flat spots to let a horse run, and areas that include clearings where combat can be practiced on mounts. There has been some cleaning and grooming of the woods here so riders can go off course. Wolf Creek is a diverse body of water that sometimes has deep pools and rapids. It is often punctuated by riffles that are shallow and fast moving. The whole area is
There are four levels of trails. The obstacles are as follows.
1. (water crossing) This is a simple riffle of water about four to six inches deep with good sediment that just allows a rider.
2. This is a small log a horse must step across.
3. This is a wooden bridge wide enough for two riders to ride side by side through.
4. (water crossing) This is a brisker crossing, navigating down a narrow trail to a small step down into the water. The water moves swiftly here, but is not deep... just over the horse's hooves in an average rain situation.
5. This is a small knee high vertical jump made of two logs stacked.
6. This is a small coffin jump that's basically a trench of water about two feet wide a horse must lightly leap. Ponies might find the jump more challenging. Warhorses would find it a step across obstacle.
7. (water crossing) This is actually a deep pool of still water with good foundational.sediment that forces the horse to wade belly deep on most average size mounts during non-flood season.
8. This is a small hedge knee high on most average horses. Ponies will find the obstacle more of a competent jump, but there is a pass through well in sight for small or young riders.
9. This is a true oxer, which is a set of two verticals set one after another to make the step across or jump a bit wider. They are two feet off the ground and a foot apart.
10. This is the first crossrail. It consists of two poles (in this case felled trees) crossed with one end of each pole is on the ground and on jump standards so that the center is lower than the sides. It helps teach green horses to jump in the center of the fence.
11. This is a bounce, namely a run of five poles barely a foot off the ground that forces the horse to jump and jump and jump again without taking strides between them.
12. (water crossing) This is a walk down to cross and a jump up onto a bank to get out of the creek. Perhaps the most challenging part of the novice course, there is a gentle slope just upstream if the rider isn't comfortable with the two foot jump upwards onto dry land.
(Exits from the novice course include turning around and riding the course backwards or exiting through the competent course headed west and then north through obstacles 13- 17. Competent obstacles can be attempted by more seasoned novices or can be bypassed.)
13. The first of several brush fences, this obstacle has a solid bottom with brush on top making it about six feet tall.
14. This is a simple tall oxer with a ditch on the far side horses must clear before landing clean.
15. This obstacle is a Trakehner. These fences consist of a rail over a ditch. The ditch can be frightening for the horse who can't see how deep or often onto the other side. So this section is not only a test of bravery, but on the trust between a horse and rider.
16. This jump is actually a table. A table is a fence with height and width, with the top of the table being one piece of material - stone in this case. The horse is encouraged to jump over the entire obstacle at once, forcing them to jump extremely long. However, horses may accidentally jump up onto them as in a bank jump. In this case, the table is made of timbers fused together with reimancy stone to hold even the biggest horse and rider's weight.
17. This is a sunken road. That is to say it's a combination jump involving banks and rails. It consist of a bank down, with a few strides to a bank up.
18. (water crossing) This is another sunken road, but a quite complicated one. It begins with a set of rails, a bounce distance before the bank down, a stride in the "bottom" of the road which is actually the stream itself, before jumping the bank up, and another stride or bounce distance before the final set of rails.
19. This is a corner obstacle, also called an apex jump. This fence is made of two log rails set in a triangular shape with the horse jumping over one corner of the triangle. They are similar to the "fan" jump. As the name suggests, the fence makes a "V" shape, that can have an angle up to 90 degrees. This is a good place for a rider to teach a horse not to run out of the open V part of the jump but to jump the wider more complex point of the jump or the center section where they must land and bounce back up over the second obstacle.
20.This is a joker fence, which means its a tricky fence comprising only a rustic (or unpainted) rail and two wings. The lack of filler makes it difficult for a horse to judge their proximity to the fence as well as the fence's height, making it a tricky obstacle and difficult for horses to jump accurately.
21. (water crossing) This is a very pounced complex coffin jump. Also called the rails-ditch-rails, it is a combination fence where the horse jumps a set of rails, moves one or several strides downhill to the creek to jump the creek, then goes back uphill to another jump. The jumps here are high and the banks steep.
(This route needs no exits because it exists in a loop, though other courses can be taken for diversity.)
29. This is a nice six foot wall with a two foot topped out brush fence growing on the top of it making the wall a total of eight feet high though its a bit U shaped in the middle where a multitude of horses have jumped it and worn down the bushes.
30. This is a large Log Fan - The rails on one side of the log fence are spread out by standards, making the fence take the shape of a fan when viewed from above.
31. A simple high triple bar where the obstacle is a spread fence with 3 jumps of different heights.
32. (water crossing) This is just a deep nasty rapids where horses have to start at one end wading and cross getting pushed downstream before existing (or upstream if running the course backwards).
(This course is accessible off the novice trail and link s into the competent trail for the return.)
22. This is a simple triple Bar, which is a spread fence with 3 jumps of different heights, the tallest being almost eight feet.
23. (water crossing) This is a monster jump down six feet into water, wade through a deep pool, and jump up five feet onto a bank. It's reinforced with timbers and challenges even the most athletic horse.
24. This is a triple combination of six and seven foot oxers, forcing the horse to jump wide and high. The jumps are in a row, with no more than 2 strides between each. They are constructed of poles held up by loose cups in stumps that are easily knocked down if the horse fails the course.
25. (water crossing) This is a deep gully jump where the horse is expected to jump the whole waterway and not splash down in it. The span is about eight feet across.
26. This is a massive hogsback. It's a set of three verticals spread with 3 rails, and the tallest rail is the highest.
27. (water crossing) This is a true liverpool, seven feet high, built in the center of a stream crossing. The horse must enter the water, jump the vertical, come down in the water and exit the stream. The water can be ankle deep or as deep as their knees depending on the wetness of the year and the size of the mount.
28. This is a very challenging bank set where a horse must jump twelve feet down onto a secondary bank then eight feet down onto a base before rising up and jumping out of the bank onto a seven foot bank and up onto a ten foot bank.
(This course is accessible from riding the competent trail counterclockwise. It exists off the novice course. It can also be turned into a loop via the expert trail.)
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Description
Located outside of The Sanctuary proper between Riverfall and the facility itself lies a well groomed cross country equestrian training course that is open to the public. Wolf Creek, however, is on The Sanctuary's land.
This course lies tucked into the ten mile strip of fringe forest that borders the ocean on the outskirts of the pastures surrounding The Sanctuary. It can be accessed off the side road that leads to The Sanctuary and is clearly marked with a map carved onto the sign to give riders a clear indication of which way to go. All trail splits are clearly marked and all obstacles have 'refusal' routes if riders decide the obstacle is outside their comfort zone and want to ride their mounts around them. This holds true for the water crossings as well. Even if the water courses have jumps down or up there will be a shallow ford either upstream or downstream of the jump marked by a staff that's flagged.
Throughout the course there are picnic areas, flat spots to let a horse run, and areas that include clearings where combat can be practiced on mounts. There has been some cleaning and grooming of the woods here so riders can go off course. Wolf Creek is a diverse body of water that sometimes has deep pools and rapids. It is often punctuated by riffles that are shallow and fast moving. The whole area is
There are four levels of trails. The obstacles are as follows.
The Novice Trail
1. (water crossing) This is a simple riffle of water about four to six inches deep with good sediment that just allows a rider.
2. This is a small log a horse must step across.
3. This is a wooden bridge wide enough for two riders to ride side by side through.
4. (water crossing) This is a brisker crossing, navigating down a narrow trail to a small step down into the water. The water moves swiftly here, but is not deep... just over the horse's hooves in an average rain situation.
5. This is a small knee high vertical jump made of two logs stacked.
6. This is a small coffin jump that's basically a trench of water about two feet wide a horse must lightly leap. Ponies might find the jump more challenging. Warhorses would find it a step across obstacle.
7. (water crossing) This is actually a deep pool of still water with good foundational.sediment that forces the horse to wade belly deep on most average size mounts during non-flood season.
8. This is a small hedge knee high on most average horses. Ponies will find the obstacle more of a competent jump, but there is a pass through well in sight for small or young riders.
9. This is a true oxer, which is a set of two verticals set one after another to make the step across or jump a bit wider. They are two feet off the ground and a foot apart.
10. This is the first crossrail. It consists of two poles (in this case felled trees) crossed with one end of each pole is on the ground and on jump standards so that the center is lower than the sides. It helps teach green horses to jump in the center of the fence.
11. This is a bounce, namely a run of five poles barely a foot off the ground that forces the horse to jump and jump and jump again without taking strides between them.
12. (water crossing) This is a walk down to cross and a jump up onto a bank to get out of the creek. Perhaps the most challenging part of the novice course, there is a gentle slope just upstream if the rider isn't comfortable with the two foot jump upwards onto dry land.
(Exits from the novice course include turning around and riding the course backwards or exiting through the competent course headed west and then north through obstacles 13- 17. Competent obstacles can be attempted by more seasoned novices or can be bypassed.)
The Competent Trail
13. The first of several brush fences, this obstacle has a solid bottom with brush on top making it about six feet tall.
14. This is a simple tall oxer with a ditch on the far side horses must clear before landing clean.
15. This obstacle is a Trakehner. These fences consist of a rail over a ditch. The ditch can be frightening for the horse who can't see how deep or often onto the other side. So this section is not only a test of bravery, but on the trust between a horse and rider.
16. This jump is actually a table. A table is a fence with height and width, with the top of the table being one piece of material - stone in this case. The horse is encouraged to jump over the entire obstacle at once, forcing them to jump extremely long. However, horses may accidentally jump up onto them as in a bank jump. In this case, the table is made of timbers fused together with reimancy stone to hold even the biggest horse and rider's weight.
17. This is a sunken road. That is to say it's a combination jump involving banks and rails. It consist of a bank down, with a few strides to a bank up.
18. (water crossing) This is another sunken road, but a quite complicated one. It begins with a set of rails, a bounce distance before the bank down, a stride in the "bottom" of the road which is actually the stream itself, before jumping the bank up, and another stride or bounce distance before the final set of rails.
19. This is a corner obstacle, also called an apex jump. This fence is made of two log rails set in a triangular shape with the horse jumping over one corner of the triangle. They are similar to the "fan" jump. As the name suggests, the fence makes a "V" shape, that can have an angle up to 90 degrees. This is a good place for a rider to teach a horse not to run out of the open V part of the jump but to jump the wider more complex point of the jump or the center section where they must land and bounce back up over the second obstacle.
20.This is a joker fence, which means its a tricky fence comprising only a rustic (or unpainted) rail and two wings. The lack of filler makes it difficult for a horse to judge their proximity to the fence as well as the fence's height, making it a tricky obstacle and difficult for horses to jump accurately.
21. (water crossing) This is a very pounced complex coffin jump. Also called the rails-ditch-rails, it is a combination fence where the horse jumps a set of rails, moves one or several strides downhill to the creek to jump the creek, then goes back uphill to another jump. The jumps here are high and the banks steep.
(This route needs no exits because it exists in a loop, though other courses can be taken for diversity.)
The Expert Trail
29. This is a nice six foot wall with a two foot topped out brush fence growing on the top of it making the wall a total of eight feet high though its a bit U shaped in the middle where a multitude of horses have jumped it and worn down the bushes.
30. This is a large Log Fan - The rails on one side of the log fence are spread out by standards, making the fence take the shape of a fan when viewed from above.
31. A simple high triple bar where the obstacle is a spread fence with 3 jumps of different heights.
32. (water crossing) This is just a deep nasty rapids where horses have to start at one end wading and cross getting pushed downstream before existing (or upstream if running the course backwards).
(This course is accessible off the novice trail and link s into the competent trail for the return.)
The Master Trail
22. This is a simple triple Bar, which is a spread fence with 3 jumps of different heights, the tallest being almost eight feet.
23. (water crossing) This is a monster jump down six feet into water, wade through a deep pool, and jump up five feet onto a bank. It's reinforced with timbers and challenges even the most athletic horse.
24. This is a triple combination of six and seven foot oxers, forcing the horse to jump wide and high. The jumps are in a row, with no more than 2 strides between each. They are constructed of poles held up by loose cups in stumps that are easily knocked down if the horse fails the course.
25. (water crossing) This is a deep gully jump where the horse is expected to jump the whole waterway and not splash down in it. The span is about eight feet across.
26. This is a massive hogsback. It's a set of three verticals spread with 3 rails, and the tallest rail is the highest.
27. (water crossing) This is a true liverpool, seven feet high, built in the center of a stream crossing. The horse must enter the water, jump the vertical, come down in the water and exit the stream. The water can be ankle deep or as deep as their knees depending on the wetness of the year and the size of the mount.
28. This is a very challenging bank set where a horse must jump twelve feet down onto a secondary bank then eight feet down onto a base before rising up and jumping out of the bank onto a seven foot bank and up onto a ten foot bank.
(This course is accessible from riding the competent trail counterclockwise. It exists off the novice course. It can also be turned into a loop via the expert trail.)
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