Mother and Daughter Win Hunter Pace Competition
By Sean Ely

Morgan Brodeur-Bunker (left) and her mother, Leanne Brodeur, with Prince and Salsa during the Island's 5th Annual Hunter Pace competition, in which they won first place in the paired division. The horses each received ribbons and medals. Their 59-minute time was just two minutes shy of the ideal 61- minute time.

In Hunter Pace, the fastest team probably won't be the winner. That's because teams try to complete the course closest to a secret time set by the judges. There is strategy involved, but mostly it is luck that determines the winner, which in the 5th annual running of the event Friday, August 3, was the twoperson team of Morgan Brodeur- Bunker and her mother, Leanne Brodeur.

They finished in 59 minutes, just two minutes shy of the 61 minutes the judges had set.

In this timed event Friday, August 3, at Great Turtle Park, riders teamed up in groups of two or three to ride across varied terrain in a route previously mapped out by Mackinac Horsemen's Association President Candice Dunnigan. Mrs. Dunnigan and other non-contestants rode the course twice, and the average time it took them to finish the course was the time the riders had to try to match.

The catch is that the riders didn't know what the time was, so they had to guess what the pace would be.

Ten people competed, including the Brodeurs and Trish Martin and Lin Sheppard riding as pairs, and three-person teams of James and Claire Dunnigan and Lisa Brock, and Maryanke Alexander, Lisa Eckhardt, and Michelle Stuck.

The Dunnigan-Brock team won the team competition, making the run in 51 minutes.

"Everyone who does it loves it," Mrs. Dunnigan said. "It's a great way to get out on trails with your horse. It's also great that you can't ride alone, so you are always with someone, and that makes it fun. I hope we can get more people next year, because it's a wonderful event."

"This was my first year riding in the event, and it was fun," Ms. Brodeur said. "The time felt good. We kept a steady pace and pretty much did a walk trot speed the entire time, so it seemed to work out well for us."

Her daughter agreed.

"It felt really good to win it," she said. "There were trails that we rode on that I haven't been on before, so it was fun. We knew it was going to be a trail ride, so we tried to pace ourselves as best we could and we ended up getting two minutes away from the ideal time."