SPRING 2010
Red Hats & Purple Chaps www.RedHatsandPurpleChaps.com Spring 2010 2010 Calendar of Events (Jan - July)
Trail Riding with the RHPC by Sue Vinyard The weather is winding down a good trail riding season. Most of us will start thinking of warm home fires and cold barns. Brrrr! We had a good season and tried a variety of new places. Some of us went to Buffalo River Trail Rides in Tennessee for the first time. Playing in the river after a hot day's ride was great. Our horses loved splashing in the water and some liked to roll in the river. Deam Lake was rainy but we managed to get some good trail riding in there. The stalls were large and very nice. Mane Trails is a privately owned campground and and very clean. The owners were very friendly and nice. I finally got to camp and ride at Brown County. It was muddy in places and again hot but the ride to Story was good. The ride in Yellowwood was interesting. They are logging in places and made finding some of the (Continued on page 2)
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MARCH Mar 13-14: Riding Clinic @ Hoosier Horse Park Mar 20: Healthy Horse, Healthy You Mar 28: Trail Riding @ JW Jones Mar 28: Drill Team Clinic @ New Castle, IN Mar 28: Qualifying & Despooking Clinic APRIL Apr 3-4: Qualifying Clinics @ Hoosier Horse Park Apr 9-11: Hoosier Horse Fair Apr 17: Maple Syrup Festival Parade - Wakarusa, IN Apr 18: Driving Miss Daisy Clinic - Charlottesville, IN Apr 24: Trail Riding @ Birdseye Apr 24: Drill Team Practice @ TBA Apr 28: Camping/Trail Ride @ Deam Lake Apr 29: Pegasus Parade@ Louisville, KY MAY May 1: Blossom Festival @ Benton Harbor, MI May 2: Trail Ride @ Bristol, IN May 7: American Villages 500 Parade May 8: Clinics @ Whitney Farm May 15: Despook/Games Clinic @ Jasper, IN May 16: Driving Clinic @ Sheridan, IN May 16: Clinic @ Sapelo Arena May 21-23: Ladies Ride @ Blackwell May 23: Drill Team Practice @ TBA May 28-31: Camp & Trail @ Midwest JUNE Jun 4-6: Covered Bridge Trail Ride Jun 5-6: Drill Team Performance @ KY Horse Park Jun 12: ACTHA Ride & Clinic @ Midwest Jun 13: Trail Ride @ Yankee Springs SP (Michigan) Jun 19: Drill Team Practice @ TBA Jun 21-25: Buffalo River Trail @ Waynesboro, TN
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SPRING 2010 Trail Riding Continued from Page 1 trails difficult. And the rattlesnake that Karen Humphreys and I found on trail Z was an experience for us and the horses.
RHPC Statistics Year End 2009 How Old Are We? Age range: 10 - 80 Average: 51 Mean: 55 Where Do We Live? (Top 6 Locations) Indianapolis, Martinsville, Danville, Bloomington, Coatesville, Lebanon Where Have We Been? - Ireland - Mexico - Bowling Green, KY to Chicago, IL - 2010 will take us to Benton Harbor, MI RHPC Horses RHPC members own a combined 370 horses. Breeds We Own (by popularity) QH, TWH, Arabian, Paint, Minis, Morgan, TB, Rocky Mountain, Saddlebreds, Mustangs, Missouri Fox Trotters, Spotted Saddle Horses, Ponies, Standardbreds, Grade horses, Clydesdale and Shetland.
We had a wonderful Ladies Ride in September at Midwest Trails. It was rainy towards the end of the week. But we had some fun games to do on the trails, bingo in the mess hall, and an extreme cowboy game. Karen Humphreys always comes up with interesting ways to entertain and teach us good ways of working with our horses. We rode at other places too and look forward to trying some more new ones next year. To start off the new year, please come and ride with us at JW's on New Year's Day. Last year was cold but not too windy. Four of us brave souls showed up and had a good time. We are hoping Country Bridges (formerly Country Haven) will be open soon and we can plan rides there. If you have any suggestions for places to ride, please contact me at svin@sbcglobal.net or cell ph# 812-239-1484. I am always looking for good trail riding and campgrounds. Â?
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First Place Equestrian Unit in 2009 @ - Peru Circus Parade - Miracle Mile Parade - Festival of the HOrse (Drill Team Champs)
The typical Indiana RHPC member... New RHPC Chapters We grew to 5 chapters in 2009!
- is 55 years old - lives on a farm - is married - has 1.5 horses - has her own horse trailer - rides a QH & TWH - has a high approval rating of the RHPC - attends many functions
Don’t forget to visit us online for updated schedule & photos, etc. www.RedHatsandPurpleChaps.com our National site is online at: http://nationalRHPC.ning.com
Sound like fun? Join Us! Page 2
SPRING 2010
Memories from 2009
In 2009, RHPC members participated in a variety of events including parades, clinics and horse shows! Page 3
SPRING 2010
From Kansas to Kentucky by Bev Hill, Kansas City Chapter Queen
decoration down to an art! A can of hairspray in one hand, giant shaker of glitter in the other, everyone got properly spiffed and shined and the drill team was off to do their (winning!) perforIt all started with Queen Mum’s emails last fall mance. Then we were headed down the road to about the upcoming events in Kentucky. All of the the parade lineup. activities sounded like so much fun that I wrote to her, drooling on my keyboard, and asked if there Walking to our staging area, everyone was so enwas a possibility for me to make the trip and meet couraging. Bella was doing great, but if something everyone. Well, you know Jane, she was all over frightened her during the parade, the gals riding that! Next thing we knew, the First Annual National behind me assured me that they were prepared. Cliff was walking nearby carrying a halter, just in RHPC convention was underway! case. I started to feel calmer. Now, lest you think I go around riding in big time clinics and starring in fancy parades, nothing could be further from the truth. 2009 was our first year for RHPC in Kansas, and I have been putting on the clinics using whatever knowledge I could steal from Karen Humphries and the RHPC handbook. We had done two whole parades, very small town stuff. I was hooked, but not what you’d call experienced. Again, our Queen Mum did not bat an eye. Load up, we’ll see you in Lexington, was pretty much her advice. So off we went, hubby Cliff and I with our new-to-us truck camper and horse trailer. The rain pelted and the wind blew, and we drove and drove. We arrived after most everyone was gone from the horse park, unloaded Bella and settled into our camping spot. Whew! The next morning was the clinic with Lexington Mounted Police. What fun! Riding together was a great way to get acquainted, so I didn’t have to learn everyone’s name all at once. Then we had two flag ceremonies at the Parade of Breeds in the horse park in which I carried the Kansas flag. A true ‘bucket list’ moment and it still brings a lump to my throat to remember how thrilling that was.
I asked which unit we would be and that’s when I learned that RHPC is the grand finale of a very large parade. We’re the ones they came to see! Nervous again! But the waiting has a way of calming horses and riders down, and finally it was our turn. The jukebox cranked up and off we went, waving and riding behind the truck. The crowd was huge and they were so excited to see us! At one point the people were packed so deep that we had to ride two-across. But no one stopped smiling, no one’s horse freaked, it was FUN FUN FUN! I came home with such renewed enthusiasm for what the Kansas City RHPC can become. I feel much better prepared to lead my group to grow larger and take on more activities. Several of them are planning to go to Kentucky this year. I can’t wait! I want to sincerely thank everyone I met. You made the trip so much fun. Everyone was friendly, glad to see me, full of positive energy. Bella and I were so glad to meet you all!
But wait! There’s more, as they say on late-night television! We loaded up and drove to Georgetown (only getting a tiny bit lost on the way) and lined up for the Festival of the Horse Parade. That was a sight to behold. You gals sure have your parade Page 4