The Official Newsletter of the Texas Endurance Riders Association
Volume 16, Issue 1 Winter 2016
www.texasenduranceriders.org
Trail Markers is usually published Quarterly in January, April, July, and October.
In This Issue:
It is distributed solely to members of the Texas Endurance Riders Association, and is comprised of both their input and the opinion of the editor, neither of which represent the organization’s views or official stance. Of course, if there is no input from members, then you’re pretty much stuck with the editor’s opinions. Which don’t amount to much, really, but they can sometimes make interesting reading. Other times … well, the term “bird cage liner” comes to mind.
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We are also offering a classified section free to TERA members. Non-TERA members -.50¢ a word. Deadline for the next issue is April 1st, 2016.
A Note From the Board - p3 2015 Year End Awards - p4
Reminiscing Through the Rides- p5-6 Let’s Talk Some Poop!!!! - p7
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Advertising rates are as follows (these are for black and white. Call or email for color rates): Full page - $80 Half page - $55 1/4 page - $32 Business Card - $22 These are one time rates. Contact Todd for yearly rates.
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Editor’s Musings - p3
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Ride Calendar - p2
Welcoming and Mentoring New Riders p8 - 9
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Thank You Volunteers - p9
Wanna be published? Get it in!
Riders water thier horses in a stream at the Old Glory ride in October.
Trot Out - p10
Photo courtesy: John Nowell http://www.remuda.smugmug.com
2015 -2016 TERA Sponsored Rides Heart of the Hills
Mar 5-6, 2015 Hill Country State Natural Area Bandera, TX Eron Howell 830-537-4604 eronh@gvtc.com
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Racing Stripes
April 9-10, 2016 Priefert Ranch, Mt Pleasant, TX Khristin Seymore 903-563-6639 HorizonAggie@aol.com
Spirit of Texas
April 23, 2016 LBJ National Grasslands, Decatur, TX Selena Copeland 214-793-0311 spirittxarabians@aol.com
The Last Hoorah
May 14th, 2016 Six 0 Ranch, Cleburne, TX Bo Parrish 936-852-3532 lindapparab@valornet.com
S O C I AT I Old Glory
May 28-29, 2016 Parrie Haynes Ranch, Kileen, TX Jamie Lemon 281-732-0629 jamie.lemon@yahoo.com
Llano Estacado
June 3rd-5th, 2016 Lake Meredith Rec Area, Armarillo, TX Doug Blashill 806-206-4867 dugblashill@gmail.com
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2016 Board of Directors Ride Manager Director Valerie Bixler 3598 CR 406 McKinney, TX 75071 214-514-3618 bixlerdvm@gmail.com
Vice-President Caryne Edwards 311 Hunters Creek Dr. New Braunfels,TX 78132 830-660-5552 cedwards23@satx.rr.com
Publicity & Awards Director Khristin Seymore PO Box 559 Daingerfield, TX 75638 903-563-6639 HorizonAggie@aol.com
Secretary John Nowell 3651 White River Dr. Dallas, TX 75287 972-672-8250 jcnowell@msn.com
Membership Director Kerry Lowrey 163 Fisher McConathy Rd Anacoco, La 71403 karebearlowrey@hotmail.com
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Education Director Selena Copeland 2219 County Rd 2690 Alvord TX 76225 214-793-0311 spirittxarabians@aol.com
See you on the trail... Safe Riding, Todd
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Treasurer Russell Betts 6101 FM 1374 New Waverly, TX 77358 832-331-3164 rzbetts@aol.com
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What an oddball winter we are having. As I type this it is 75°F in north Texas. Well, it is Texas so what’s the saying... “Wait a minute and the weather will change”. Ride season is preparing to go into full swing with HotH coming up and many rides afterward in the month’s of March, April and May so here is hoping we do not have a soggy spring, or season for that matter as we did last year and that we have a successful season for everyone involved in our sport. Let’s get in the saddle and get the ball rolling!
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President Vickie Roden 11227 Wild Rose Lane Anna, TX 75409 972-978-0072 Vickier_is@yahoo.com
The Editor’s Musings...
Editor, Todd Hezeau 7259 CR 3223 Lone Oak, TX 75453 469.261.8733 maccwall@yahoo.com
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A Note from the Board....
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Dear Members, We all know what a strange ride year 2015 was, with so many ride cancellations due to weather-related issues. Here’s to more sun and less rain for us all in 2016 - especially on ride weekends! The year was particularly strange for me, having broken 3 bones in my right foot in September, when I took a kick from one of my mares that was meant for another mare. For the rest of the year, I couldn’t walk or drive. I couldn’t even get to a ride to help out. And, I wasn’t able to ride until this month. I’m REALLY looking forward to being in the saddle and seeing everyone at rides. We have some great events planned this year. We will - weather permitting - have all our usual great rides, and some possible new ones. Plus, we have several different clinics in the planning stages, so you will want to be looking for announcements on those. From your entire Board of Directors, may the rest of your 2016 ride year be fantastic, whatever your goals might be!
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Vickie Roden President 3
Old Glory Oct 31st-Nov 1st 2015 Parrie Haynes Ranch
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Photos courtesy: John Nowell http://www.remuda.smugmug.com
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River Run at Los Caminos Naturales Dec 5th 2015 Land Heritage Institute San Antonio TX
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Photos courtesy: Shane Prevost
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TERA YEAR END AWARDS A R N U C D E N E Mileage Awards:
Overall High Mileage Rider(PLAQUE) Kerry Lowrey 505 miles
Endurance:
Endurance Featherweight Takoda Manny TMP Vivaaldi
255 miles 255 miles 250 miles 200 miles
Endurance Middleweight 1-Jennifer Masters Jose Baske 205 miles 2-Jim Matthess Beacons Nite Lite 150 miles 3-Bruce Burton CR Blonde Bombshell 105 miles 3-Michael Campbell AH Zanes Texicinnamon 105 miles 3-Vicky Rogers Coin’s Diamond Nugget 105 miles Endurance Heavy weight 1-Al Prescott MA Marauder 405 miles 2-Wendye Gardiner Koweta Call Me Lexxie 150 miles 2-Lisa Skalski Tamar Quaszar 150 miles 1-Ellie Nelson
50 miles
140 miles 110 miles 110 miles 75 miles
LD Lightweight 1-Tracy Culberson VA Lady Lachazka 2-Nikki Barling Bridwell Deals Kamil Jr 3-Denise Doucet RDS Halleluyah
130 miles 115 miles 105 miles
LD Middleweight 1-Kay Conway Painted Perfection 2-Vicky Rogers Coin’s Diamond Nugget 3-Robert Ambrose Juan Bad Rockstar 3-Michael Campbell AH Diamond Bezska
160 miles 135 miles 130 miles 130 miles
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Family Award(PLAQUE) Jason & Ellie Nelson 285 miles
Master Rider-*Senior Award(GIFT CERTIFICATES) LD – Lee Bateman 225 miles Endurance – Al Prescott 455 miles
Nomination Awards: Rookie Rider of the Year(PLAQUE) Margaret Dawson Volunteer of the Year(PLAQUE) Nicole Duarte
Ride Manager of the Year(PLAQUE) Eron Howell
LD Featherweight 1-Robin Howze April’s Truest 2-Margaret Dawson Annie 2-Donna Thompson Thee Jameel 3-Julia Lankes Rhinestone Cowboy
1-Ellie Nelson
Husband & Wife Award(PLAQUE) Bruce & Louise Burton
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Endurance Junior Buckos Bay Olena
Limited Distance:
1-Gail Conway 2-Lee Bateman 3-Lee Bateman
Overall High Mileage Horse(PLAQUE & COOLER) Takoda 505 miles
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1-Manda Morris 1-Vickie Roden 2-Sylvia Sazama 3-Todd Hezeau
505 miles 200 miles 150 miles
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Endurance Lightweight Misfit Toi Jolly Juice Nordik Star PWF Liberty Valance
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1-Kerry Lowrey 2-Debbie Betts 3-Paulette Brehob
Horse & Rider of the Year(PLAQUE & COOLER) Michele Petty & “Kadmon” (250 Endurance Miles & 615 LD Miles Nationwide) April Mortl Sportsmanship Award(PLAQUE) Caryne Edwards
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LD Heavy weight Flashes Morning’s Joy Desperados Legacy LD Junior Buckos Bay Olena
160 miles 115 miles 110 miles 130 miles
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Alex Wallis Junior Award(PLAQUE) Ellie Nelson
Veterinarian(s) of the Year 2015 plaques to all Veterinarians: Jim Baldwin Valerie Bixler Gail Conway Danny Dutton Carter Hounsel Matt Randall Bob Rogers Dennis Seymore
Let’s Talk Some Poop!!!!
I’m talking manure, road apples, poop, or sh*t. Whatever you call it, our horses produce a lot of it. Actually between 35-50 pounds a day. Multiply that by 100 horses over a weekend and that’s a lot of manure for a Ride Manager (RM) to deal with if each rider doesn’t do their individual part.
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I’ve ridden on some public lands where manure had to be bagged (management disposed of the bags). At another site we had to leave a large deposit in the form of a separate check. If our camp site wasn’t clean, the RM had the funds to pay some helpers. I’m sure a lot of you have had similar experiences, so asking riders to clean up is not peculiar to Texas.
3) hiring an individual/group who will contract individually with riders who can’t (physical limitations) or don’t want to clean up their site themselves 4) riders reminding their next door camping neighbors about the manure rules—starting an in camp discussion
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I think all of the attendees of the River Run (RR) agreed the trails were fabulous and we heard from lots of folks hoping to come back again. I love the Land Heritage Institute (LHI) and ride there often as it’s only 30 minutes from my house. I want another endurance ride there myself which was why I was so concerned that the land stewards be happy with how we left everything. In order to make them happy the camping area, most of which is not normally used for horse camping, needed to be spotless. Unfortunately several of us had to spend the entire day on Sunday cleaning up. Even though manure/hay disposal stations with wheelbarrows were located all over camp, many riders still drove away leaving their camp sites a mess. In many cases we had to literally scrape the manure off of the ground. Just because you can’t see individual road apples
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Manure disposal at many of our rides can’t be any simpler than a RM/land owner saying please scatter your hay and manure when you leave. But I have been appalled by the number of riders I see who just drive away leaving piles/flakes of hay as well as two days’ worth of manure. In many cases, the riders haven’t picked up or spread a single pile of manure the entire weekend. How can the grass possibly recover when it’s coated with a 2 inch thick flattened blanket of manure!?! Also I wonder if the horse were to colic, how the rider would respond to the veterinarian who asks, “Did your horse poop his normal amount last night?” A very good reason to clean up twice a day!
doesn’t mean the manure still isn’t I’ve had many suggestions — there!! 1) upping the entry fees so the RM So the real purpose of this article can afford to hire cleaners. Doesn’t is to answer the question, “What seem fair for the rule followers do we do about riders who are totally oblivious or who choose to 2) collecting a cleaning deposit ignore the rules and refuse to be and then inspecting ride sites— considerate of Ride Management more work for the RM, but better and future users of the property, than management doing the heavy lifting whether it be private or public?
5) the RM taking notes on where Now I do agree there are some individuals are parked and publicly things RMs could do to help with shaming the slobs on social media this problem. Such as prominent (this really was a suggestion I instructions in the ride flyer, signs received). at the check-in, and reminders at The next TERA sponsored ride is all the meetings. Maybe one of the the Heart of the Hills at the Hill best things is making sure the ride Country State Natural Area in site is clean when the riders arrive. early March. Being that this is a I call this latter the “Disney World state park, riders will need to put effect”. Most big time theme their manure in a designated area. parks are so spotless that no one When we show up at the park we would dare not to dispose of trash are a very visible group. I want the properly. I think the same applies trail riders who use the park the to our riders. If a parking spot is following weekend to say “Wow, clean, riders will more likely leave those Endurance Riders were it that way. The opposite is also here last weekend and this place is true. I had a RR rider point out to spotless. What a great group!!” me that there was a pile of “old” manure by his parking spot. I Let’s start a dialogue on how we didn’t say what I was thinking but can all solve this problem. Not whatever happened with trying sure how or where this discussion to leave your area a little better should take place. Some of us than you found it? Doing a little choose not to be on Facebook so extra—a lesson my Dad taught me perhaps the various Yahoo sites? as a child.
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S O C I AT I But I digress—RM does need to ensure the camping area is clean upon arrival along with highly visible instructions for how manure should be handled. Okay now what? Now what does management do about riders who still won’t abide by the instructions?
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Paulette Brehob, AERC #6313, TERA #123, Ride Manager Dry Creek Cattle Call 1992-93 1995-2000, TERA President 1997-2000, TERA Hall of Fame 2002
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Welcoming & Mentoring New Riders By Selena Copeland
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One ride that I will never forget, I was midway through the last loop in 5th or 6th place in a 50 at the Armadillo. I was about 20 minutes behind the first 4 horses, with 1 horse right behind me and the others 20 to 30 minutes behind us. The young woman behind me caught up with me about midway and we met her crew at a road crossing. I took one look at her horse’s expression on his face and knew he was exhausted. They offered him water, oats and a wet mash. He had no interest in any of it. They then offered it to my horse, who slurped up the mash, but her horse still showed no interest. I kept waiting for the crew to say something to her about her horse, but no one did. So, as soon as we went back on trail, I told her that her horse looked really tired and it was not a good sign that he was no longer interested in eating or drinking. She said, “oh he’s not tired, he’s just not hungry”. Then, I said we were so far ahead of the people behind us we should just walk the rest of the way and it shouldn’t affect our placing. She said “no we can still trot”. I was really concerned about the horse and could see the way his hind legs were wobbling at the trot. I had dropped behind her thinking she could set the speed that way and I wouldn’t pass, so that her horse could go slower. She kept trotting faster, so finally I said my legs are cramping so I’m going to lead my horse (they weren’t). So, I dismounted and she immediately picked up a big trot to camp. So, I remounted and came in at a slow trot so that she wouldn’t see me and push her horse any harder. By that time we only had
TERA One of the riders at our clinic asked how she could find someone to ride with at the rides. I told her to watch the riders go out and wait until a group of riders left at the same speed she wanted to go, then to follow them. A few miles down the trail the riders will start to spread out and she can ask ”do you mind if I ride with you”. I told her that if the answer is no, usually the person will say it as “my horse really does a lot better alone” or “this is a really green horse, so I want him to ride only with really experienced horses”. I also told her not to take it personally, the other person really was thinking of their horse or their own safety. Most people are happy to have the company, especially on a 50.
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We have sold people an easy boot and put it on for them so they could finish a ride. We have also helped people get their horse across a creek or held their horse for them while they got back on. It is also not unusual for us to come upon people towards the end of a ride that look completely whipped and talk them into riding with us. Just having company sometimes can get someone through their last loop. While riding with them, we usually 8
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of things from people that I would never have thought to ask for advice. One of the things about giving unsolicited advice, is that it should never sound like an order or be given in a voice of superiority. Most endurance riders are independent people who like to learn, but don’t want to be told what to do. If the person chooses not to follow your advice, that is not your fault and it should not stop you from helping the next person.
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With the help of our new rider clinics, introduction rides and the simple awareness of the need to recruit, we now have several new riders at our rides. It is up to them to decide if they like the sport, the people in it, their horse is suited for it and to continue to come to rides. Saying hi to new riders, asking them if they had a good ride, and complementing them on their horse are all good ways to leave a good impression of “the people in the sport”. Asking them about their ride, how they got started in it and telling them stories of one of your first rides are great ways to make a new friend. But, you also might consider being a “mentor on the spot”. Most people think of mentoring as “babysitting a new rider”, letting them follow you, having to go their speed and helping them out while you sacrifice a higher placing in the competition. But, it doesn’t have to be that involved. Giving simple advice at a particular moment is sometimes all it takes to help someone finish that might not have made it. At the Armadillo, Valerie Bixler and I talked an intro rider into going back out on her 2nd loop, just by suggesting she rest for a little bit, eat some fruit and maybe drink a protein shake. We were just vetting and scribing and saw her only for a few minutes, but we helped her complete and I am sure she will remember the advice.
ask them what they did to condition to get ready for the ride and make suggestions if we think it might help and if they are interested in learning. I have also heard that “the new people are rude”. Which can be translated to – they have not learned our unwritten etiquette for being grateful for vets & volunteers, along with politely passing, being passed, water trough courtesy, and gate courtesy. So teach them, instead of branding them as rude and someone you instantly don’t like. For example, if someone gallops past you without a word, and other new people just saw that person get ahead of them in a rude manner, you might say “she was rude, experienced riders always ask you if it is OK to pass”. When you are new, the last thing you want is to “look new”. If you see her later, you might say (when other people are not around), “I’m not upset with you, but I can tell you are new and I just wanted you to know that in our sport, one of the unwritten rules of sportsmanship is ……., because it is extremely important to think safety first….. etc.” If the person is still rude (and most people will not be), at least you will have tried.
I probably have a tendency to give more advice than most people want, because I like to teach and share information. I have learned all kinds
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being too conservative. In endurance, there are some people with amazing records that have completed 1000s of miles. You don’t have to be one of them to be knowledgeable and to be able to share that knowledge with someone else. You can always start your sentence with “you know I read an article in Endurance News, TERA, Equus, etc. and the author said …”. Or one of our speakers at convention said …. Or “you know one of the things I have tried that worked for me is….. Or your horse looks like he might be off ”. There are ways to phrase things that share the knowledge and help other people and horses without sounding authoritative or condescending. So, let’s see if we can all help our new riders get off to a good start and on the right foot with their competitors, vets and volunteers.
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show in Oklahoma City. One of the breeders exclaimed that a horse that she bred and raised became an endurance horse and she was so happy that he was really being ridden and not just someone’s pet in their backyard. She said maybe you know him, his name is _______. I did not have the heart to tell her that the foal she had raised had died doing his job. I also did not want everyone at the table to have that image in their heads of endurance and swear to never sell another horse to an endurance rider. I have occasionally wondered if that was the right thing to do, but it is too late to change it now. So, we have an obligation to speak up for the horse and to protect our sport, through education and teaching whenever we can. Most of us are not vets and not experts, especially reading someone else’s horse, but it is still better to speak up or to err on the side of
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2 or 3 miles to go. When I arrived, her horse had pulsed in, trotted out (and so received a completion) and was flat out on his side beside the trot out area, with his legs sticking straight out and his eyes rolled back in his head. The vet already had an IV started. The rider was sitting with the horse and sobbing uncontrollably. I knew then that she did care about him, she just really hadn’t understood that her horse was really in trouble, so I hugged her. The horse lived and to her credit I never saw another horse she rode need treatment. If I had not tried to say something to her, I would have felt just as guilty as his rider. But, the horse (who was owned by someone else), died a couple of years later while receiving treatment at a 100-mile ride. A few months after that, Hank and I were at dinner with several breeders and show trainers on a Friday night at a horse
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Texas Endurance Riders Association 2015 2015 VOLUNTEERS
The Board of Directors and your fellow members want to acknowdelge you for the hours you invested to make our TERA 2015 rides a great success.
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S O C I AT I THANK YOU!!!
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from your Board of Directors and fellow TERA members!
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Winter 2016 Texas Endurance Riders Association TERA AS
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%Kerry Lowrey 163 Fisher McConathy Rd Anacoco, LA 71403
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