In the previous issue of SA Horseman we introduced the sport of Ride & Tie. This is a team event, with each team ­consisting of two humans and one horse. The objective of the sport is to cover a set distance as fast as possible, alternating between running and riding.

One team member will ride the horse a ­certain distance and then leave it tied while continuing on foot. The other team member will run to the horse, get on and ride some distance past the first member. The horse is again left at a certain point, waiting for the runner to take it further.

Rufus Scheider was part of the 2007 World Champion Ride & Tie team. Her two team mates were Tom Johnson and the Arabian gelding, Koona. We wanted to know more about this remarkable participant in a very ­demanding sport.

Q: How did you get into the sport?

A: A friend told me about it and said I should try it. I was already a runner and a rider. But I didn't actually do my first race until a year later. My first race I partnered with my horse shoer at the time. So I guess you would say I got into it by word of mouth.

Q: Tell us about your team members

A: My horse, Koona, is an Arabian. Koona is the name of an Indian dance that starts out very slowly, and then picks up tempo and goes faster and faster. That's what I wanted to do with this horse: Start out slowly and then see how far we could go, depending on his talent.

What is special about Koona? Not much. I shoe him a certain way, but that's because he kept going lame with other shoers. So I started to experiment on my own. He is short, which is great for this sport because we remount so often in Ride & Tie that a tall horse is a lot more work.

He's barely over 14 hh. Recently I was riding him and a lady asked me: "How's your baby girl?" It took me a moment to figure out she was talking about my horse. "He's not a girl, and he's not a baby," was the answer. I think he's about 15 years old.

My partner Tom Johnson is awesome. He's a great runner: he has won the ­Western States 100 mile foot race in the past. And he's a great rider: He competes in endurance riding too. And he's an amazing strategist which is key for Ride & Tie.

Q: How did you prepare for the event and what is the secret to your success?

A: I run competitively and I train my horses like athletes. None of them were anything when I got them, but I really like training. I am not really a horse person, but I like horses for the fact they are athletes. I have empathy for my horses. I don't ask anything of the horse that I can't do myself. If I can't hop off and run up a certain hill, I won't ask my horse to run up that hill either.

I guess I don't know that I am of the "­weaker sex". I am a horse shoer. I coach high school cross-country. I run with guys, I train with guys.

Q: How many ladies participate in Ride & Tie and how do they perform?

A: The sport is split pretty evenly with equal numbers of men and women ­competing in it. Women definitely do better these days than they did in the early days back in the 1970s. A woman/woman team took second place in the Ride & Tie world ­championship race in 2005, and the same happened again in 2006.

That's kind of impressive seeing as about a third of the teams are man/man teams and another third are man/woman teams. There seem to be more and more women ­finishing in the top ten teams in the last five or so years.