Welcome! This forum has a treasure trove of great info – Scouters helping Scouters! Just a heads up, though - all content, information, and opinions shared on this forum are those of the author, not the BSA.
I have a Scout who received the Horsemanship Merit Badge and it marked her as completing the Riding Segment of the Award since everything else was completed in the requirements. She has already done 200 miles of cycling in pursuit of this award and the cycling merit badge, but has not completed the bookwork part of the cycling merit badge.
We had been under the assumption that she needed to complete the badge miles + 100 miles. She is 20 miles short of that, though, like I mentioned, she has completed the 200 miles in the final requirement.
It seems that Scoutbook is only adding milage to the venturing option not to the merit badge option in requirement 2.
Is this based on an accurate interpretation that we can confirm, or is it a mistake in the interpretation?
However, Scoutbook is auto-completing the award without the option of needing approval for the “and 100 miles” or “and 20 miles” if the scout completes a merit badge.
The requirement is clear “Complete 200 miles of riding activities, including cycling, stock riding, skating, motor boating, mountain boarding, snowmobiling, (including ATV or PWC riding at an approved council program), under the auspices of the Boy Scouts of America, including the miles in requirement 2.” - it says including #2, not excluding those miles. It is a 200 mile total. And that is what one of that committee eventually told me when back from Jambo in 2019
Riding. A Scout, Sea Scout, or Venturer may earn the National Outdoor Badge for Riding upon successfully completing the following requirements:
Earn the First Class rank, Sea Scout Apprentice rank, or complete Venturing Ranger Award requirements 1-6.
Complete the requirements for at least one of the following:
(a) Cycling merit badge or Ranger Cycling/Mountain Biking elective and 100 miles of cycling
(b) Horsemanship merit badge or Ranger Equestrian elective and 20 miles of horseback riding
(c) Motorboating merit badge or Ranger Watercraft elective and 100 miles of motor boating
(d) Skating merit badge or Ranger Winter Sports elective and 20 miles of skating
Complete 200 miles of riding activities, including cycling, stock riding, skating, motor boating, mountain boarding, (including ATV or PWC riding at an approved council program), under the auspices of the Boy Scouts of America, including the miles in requirement 2.
It seems to me that the intent was a total of 200 miles of “riding activities”, but it sure is confusing based on the phrasing of 2(a) through 2(d).
I think that the “and ## miles of activity” only applies to the Ranger elective portion, not to the MB portions.
Sounds great! Like I said I was trying to understand the correct interpretation. The earlier thread was indicating that the extra miles in the earlier requirement mattered. It becomes an issue because the road cycling option totals more than the 200 miles with that other interpretation.
