The Backcountry Horsemen of Washington presents the Packers Rendezvous as part of its major effort toward the education of backcountry user groups in appropriate and environmentally sound treatment of wilderness areas and will conform to USFS wilderness regulations. While every effort is made to judge all events in a fair and equal manner, the subjective nature of these events leaves some judgments of correctness open to interpretation. The decisions of the judges will be final. The Rendezvous Co-Chairs or designees will settle all disputes.
1. This event exhibits a weekend pack trip for two.
2. Each team will furnish animals and packs.
3. Packs to include: Tent, wood or gas stove, two sleeping bags, cooking gear for two, first aid kit for humans and animals, shovel, ax bucket, saw food for two days, and provisions for animals.
4. This event will contain three sections:
· 1 Rider & 1 Pack Animal
· 2 Riders and 1 Pack Animal
· 2 Riders and Unlimited Pack Animals
5. Contestant may enter only one section of this event.
6. No entries accepted after 11:00 a.m. Saturday.
The Event:
Contestants will arrive fully packed at the trail obstacle course start. After course completion, participants will set up camp in designated area. Camps will remain set up for entire weekend. Packing up and leaving will be at judge’s discretion. Food that has been packed in may be used in dutch oven contests. Judges will have contestants select a “packing and leaving scenario” from a hat to aid in determining overall packing skills.
Judging: Based on point system that will consider:
1. Set up of camp, tent, stove and sleeping bags, etc.
2. Ability of riders to handle animals and pack.
3. Ability of riders to handle animals and pack.
4. Performance on trail course.
5. Overall appearance and condition of pack.
1. This event exhibits a contestant’s ability to handle a variety of unfamiliar items in a packing situation.
2. Demonstrates a contestant’s ability to make on the spot decisions regarding balance and load.
3. There will be three sections to this event:
· Men
· Women
· Century – Combined age of two partners closets to 100 years will be given a ten-point advantage.
The Event:
Contestant(s) will pack and load onto livestock items supplied by others. Contestant(s) will determine by lot which of two piles he/she will pack and load onto his/her own pack stock. Contestants(s) will be time in this event.
Judging: Based on point system that will consider:
1. Basic horsemanship.
2. Ability to pack loads.
3. Time will start when contestant(s) is ready. Time will start when contestant(s) has mounted saddle horse.
4. Contestant(s) will travel a course where load and balance will be determined.
1. This event exhibits a contestant’s ability to tie:
· Pack boxes with top pack using the double diamond hitch, and
· Mantees using a basket hitch with crow’s feet.
2. There will be three sections to this event:
· Men
· Women
· Youth Under 12 years of age or 12-18 years of age.
The Event:
The contestant will arrive at the event site with his or her own stock animals, packsaddles and stock handler. When the contestant is ready, the signal will be given to start. The contestant will then load and tie the supplied pre-packed boxes and top pack using the double diamond hitch. The contestant will then travel a course where load and balance will be determined. Time will be called at the end of the course. The contestant will then unpack their animal and prepare for the second part of the contest. The contestant will pack their horse the supplied mantees using the basket hitch with crow’s feet. The contestant will repeat the same course. The contestant’s combined total time from the two events will be entered for score.
Judging:
This is a timed event. The fastest combined time wins. If any load falls off, hitch fails to securely hold the load or the hitch is incorrect, the contestant will not be awarded a time. In the case of a tie, a “sudden-death” pack-off will determine the winner. A coin toss will determine who goes first. The same rules as before apply for the “sudden-death” pack off.
This event uses pre-weighted packs. There will be two divisions:
· Single Diamond
· Double Diamond
The Event:
The contestant will tie on packs to the “barrel”, using either a single or double diamond hitch. When the contestant is ready, the signal will be given to start. The contestant will then load and tie the supplied pre-packed boxes and top pack using the single or double diamond hitch on a packing barrel.
Judging:
This event will be judged on the time it takes to complete the hitch and the correctness of the hitch. Realizing that there are several ways to tie these hitches, functionality will be the main criteria for determining correctness. In the case of a tie, a “sudden-death” pack-off will determine the winner. A coin toss will determine who goes first. The same rules as before apply for the “sudden-death” pack off.
This event exhibits a contestant’s ability to handle livestock and a trailer.
The Event:
Truck, trailer and horse will be furnished. Contestant will back around a curve, load horse, pull up and turn to right, drive forward and stop, then back around curve, unload horse, and return to beginning.
Judging:
1. Time
2. Accuracy
3. Animal consideration
4. Novice division will include a less complicated course.
This event will exhibit the ability of a team to utilize a double buck crosscut saw. Depending upon participation, there may be a hand saw division or youth division.
The Event:
Two contestants will use the provided double buck crosscut saw. When the contestants are ready, the signal will be given to start. Time will stop when the end of the log hits the ground.
Judging:
Will be based solely on time.
The Event: The objective of the challenge is to put a Decker packsaddle together in the proper order from the tree to finished product. The competitor is allowed to view a complete saddle prior to starting. Since there are many variations for rigging a saddle, for this event, proper order will be the rigging of the complete display saddle.
Judging: The lowest time wins.
1. Overall maximum time allowed will be 15 minutes.
2. Clock will stop when all saddle parts are put on correct, incorrectly or your 15-minute maximum has expired.
3. A 5 second penalty for each saddle part put on incorrectly will be added to the final time.
Dutch oven cooking will not only show off the ability of the chef to prepare and cook a dish using a dutch oven, but the ability to please the palate. This event will consist of the following divisions:
· Breakfast
· Main Dishes
· Desserts
The Event:
Each of the divisions will be held at a specific time and location during rendezvous. Cooks will provide their own materials, remembering our limited impact education, and prepare an appropriate dish ready for judging at the specified time.
A Chili cook-off will also be held, but will not count toward overall award. Any cooking pot will be acceptable for the Chili Cook-off, and cornbread will also be provided (or you can cook your own.)
Judging:
An independent panel of judges from a variety of chapters will determine the winner.
The Event:
Indicates a persons ability to guess the age, height, and weight of a horse without physically touching the animal.
Judging:
Prizes will be awarded to the person the closes guess in the combined categories.
Obstacle Course – 2 Sponsors Needed
The Event:
Indicates the individual and horses ability to ride through a series of obstacles.
Judging:
1. Contestants are expected to have their horses tacked up as if they were on at least a 4-5 hour trail ride. Contestants will be judged accordingly.
2. Contestants should also be wearing appropriate apparel for such a ride.
3. Contestants will be required to navigate thru a series of obstacles that one may find on such a trail ride where they will be judged on how well they and their horses handle each situation.
4. On the third refusal at an obstacle the horse and rider team must take a zero score for that obstacle and move on to the next.
5. The winner will be determined as the horse and rider with the highest score.
Divorce Course – 2 Sponsors Needed
The Event:
This event demonstrates the ability of a blind folded horseback rider to follow instructions from their “spouse” or teammate, calling out directions to guide the rider and their horse on the course specified. The “spouse” must remain in the ‘call box’ at all times and call out directions to the blindfolded rider negotiating the course.
Juding:
The team with the most ability to successfully negotiate, lowest score, the course will win.
Trail Thief – 2 Sponsors Needed
The Event:
A. With Horse - Time starts when contestant leaves from “home point. Following a marked trail, they find ‘trunk’. Contestant must dismount while holding onto the reins of their horse at all times. Contestant must open the trunk and steal (wear) everything found in the trunk and carry all objects remaining in the trunk. Contestant must remount and follow the trail back ‘home’ where they must remove everything they stole from the trail trunk and place it in a box provided and shut the lid. Time stops when the lid is shut.
B. Without Horse - Time starts when contestant on foot leaves “home point. Contestant negotiates trail course and finds trail trunk. Contestant must open the trunk, steal (wear) everything found in the trunk, carry all objects remaining in the trunk and follow the trail course back ‘home’ where they must remove everything they stole from the trail trunk and place it in a box provided and shut the lid. Time stops when the lid is shut.
Judging:
The contestant with the best combined time and lowest score wins.