The ride was an affiliated event with the Victorian Endurance Riders Association, which in turn is affiliated with the Australian Endurance Riders Association.

Events like this are held all over Australia throughout the year, with riders often travelling long distances, even to other states, to compete.

Ararat Rural City pitched in $2500 to help with associated costs and to try and get the community involved.

This worked well, with all local businesses getting involved and making it a terrific weekend.

On the Saturday night there was a meal and live entertainment at the Pomonal Hall, the local cricket club ran a bar and Blaze Rock Retreat kindly donated some accommodation.

The base camp was set at the Pomonal cricket oval, with riders completing the 80 kilometre ride over two 40 kilometre legs.

After the first leg riders were required to have their horses subjected to a veterinary inspection to ensure they were well enough to continue.

In endurance horse riding, there are two categories, novice or open.

Those in the novice category are not allowed to travel any faster than 14 kilometres per hour, while those in the open section can travel as fast as they like, providing it is not detrimental to the health of the horse.

With 80 entries into this year's annual event, organisers were very happy with the way the weekend panned out, labelling it a big success.

The winning time was a slick four hours and 40 minutes.

The state championships are being held at Raglan on the weekend, a 160 kilometre ride.