Fielding an inquiry from a group of horseback riders in Australia, we modified Racery’s race platform to include horse riding as an exercise mode.

We asked organizer Bek Williamson about the race, and she sent this fascinating response:

The Victorian Endurance Riders’ Association were looking for a way to motivate members to continue their training whilst events are cancelled for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19. Normally, riders gather at a central location and compete over an 80km distance, which may take anywhere between 4 and 9 hours to complete with a vet check at the 40km mark. The Racery virtual ride allows our riders to complete an 80km ride even if they’re not quite up to the challenge yet – they’ve got the whole month of May to complete the distance! We’ve set up an 80km route with checkpoints along the way just like a real ride. Riders will be able to see what their friends are doing, and we anticipate some friendly competition between normal on-track rivals. 

Here’s a link to their virtual race! Once the race starts, it will be fun to see horse avatars progressing along the route.

Here’s more information about Racer’s virtual race activity conversion functionality.