# AERC vs ECTRA vs NATRC



## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

ECTRA is a regional association that has awards for all distance rides....CTR and endurance. CTR is judged, endurance is a race. That is the main difference.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

I had someone once describe ECTRA to me as 'NATRC-lite.' I personally have never been to a NATRC event (only read about it online).. but I am an ECTRA member and have been to many of their events. I am also a member of AERC.

ECTRA CTRs are based on NATRC pacing but do not have obstacles on trail or judging of campsites. They do have the control/vet judge and the lay judge both looking at your horse and contributing to scoring. You do the trot circles when you do your first and last vetting. Ideal pulse at the finish is 44 after 20 minutes, but DQ is 64 within an hour. You come back for a hands-on exam by both judges at the end of the event once everyone is finished.

I can probably find an old score sheet and get a picture of it if you are interested.


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

pokeylilpony said:


> I've heard that ECTRA rides can be easier on older horses or horses that may have very slight soundness issues such as arthritis (I have an older arthritic mare who still has tons of go so this got my attention). Can anyone expound upon this?


Not sure that I would agree with this. ECTRA has the same zero-tolerance for meds policy that AERC has.. in fact, it may be even more strict as you aren't allowed to even use things like desitin. Not sure what/if any meds or supplements you have your mare on, but you would need to check out the withdrawl times for them before competitions.

The pacing in CTRs is also a touch faster than in AERC LD. For example, I just did a 30 mile CTR a few weeks ago where optimum time was 5-5.5 hours. ECTRA gives you a 30 min window beyond that where you get time penalties but aren't DQd, so max time for the 30 miles would be 6 hours. If you were riding the same distance in AERC, you would get 7.25 hours.


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## pokeylilpony (Aug 16, 2015)

That clears a lot up....thank you!! I'm glad to hear it's not quite as strict as NATRC, and that there aren't judged obstacles. I did an ACTHA ride once and my horse nearly lost his mind having to stop every mile lol.


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