WEll I told you before it would be great for the two of you:) You're allowed to ride together, but you can't crowd. In one way having a buddy helps, because your horse has a buddy the whole time. I ride often by myself, and sometimes someone will come along and ride awhile with me then either I go off or they do. If they leave it upsets the horse sometimes.
If you have a ride buddy that you know will be with you the whole ride barring them being pulled out, then it's not so bad when someone else buddies up for a while.
To me, controlling the herd instinct is the biggest challenge of CTR. Having horse come past you and go out of sight can be a challenge.
Becky
Our trails at the forest, at least within 5 miles of the trail head, are pretty busy. horses get used to being passed, oncoming riders you need to get out of the way of, and that kind of thing. Strangers coming and going wouldn't throw Bay's cool, but anyone we've been with who suddenly takes off makes him get on the muscle, yeah.
That would be the biggest problem with Sonny and E - neither of them do well with a horse passing them. Indy is lazy, he couldn't care less if the whole pack passed him as long as nobody expected him to catch up :)
Well, Bay may be too old to score well, but hopefully we could pass at a beginner level, and keep ecurbh company, and make a game of it. The challenges sound like a blast.