Stories from the Trail-, Day 2- Part 3

Stories from the Trail, Day 2- Part 3 by guest blogger, Sheila Christiansen

OK, so after we filtered through the scavenger bags we had to get going on the scorecards. Very time-consuming chore is that. Again, thanks to Shari, we managed our way through it, though it took longer than expected. TV kept the crowd at bay by doing drawings for prizes while we worked on numbers.

Almost everybody stayed for the dinner and the awards. The food was great; KFC chicken with three kinds of salad, beans, and some homemade cakes volunteers had brought for dessert. Nobody left hungry, that's for sure! Some of our Horsetalers placed in the obstacles competition!

Each judge got to give a Judge's Choice Award to whoever they chose. I chose Christine Shenefield and her mule. Honestly, they were faultless on their sidepassing, both directions. Great horsemanship (mulemanship?), great execution.

When it was all said and done and the last trailer pulled out we sat around a campfire and rehashed the day. Fun, fun, fun!



If you want to have a great horsey time I would suggest you get involved in volunteering for one of these trails events. The more involved you are the more fun you'll have. It's true! Better yet, dream up an event yourself and call for volunteers to help you!

It was so nice to spend time with friends, working to put on a "party" for the rest of our friends, plus do something good for Nebraska trails. If you haven't ridden at Branched Oak trail, I highly recommend it-- those are some NICE trails. Soon there will be pens built in their horse campgrounds, and I think water and a bathroom, too (right?).... almost all the comforts of home!

I was too tired to get loaded up and drive home an hour in the dark. Tammy offered her nice trailer again, so I took her up on it. It was wonderful to get a good night's sleep and then pack up and head for home this morning!

It was a wonderful weekend!

Thank you, Sheila, for sharing your story with us. It truly was a great horse weekend! ~tv

Stories from the Trail - Day 2 , Part 2: Counting Junk

Stories from the Trail - Day 2 , Part 2: Counting Junk by guest blogger, Sheila Christiansen

The camp had been nearly deserted, except for Rich Newberg and volunteer, Troy Shenefield. We met Rich on the road, he was headed out to get the food from KFC in Lincoln....he reported to us that riders were already arriving and wanting to hand in their scavenger bags and he wasn't too sure what to do with those. I understand his concern after getting a look at them.

When we made up the scavenger list, it looked pretty cute. Little bits of nature gathered from the side of the trail, a snip here, a sample there. In reality it looked like some crazy person was planning a witches' brew. A pinch of milkweed, mixed with a dead insect, some sumac seeds, and three white berries-- that sort of thing. Oh, and apples?? We asked for an " apple of any kind". You know how many ROAD APPLES we had in Ziplocs? OMG.

So somebody's job was to match the things checked off the rider's list with what was actually present in their Ziploc bag. Heck, when we put it on there we didn't even know if some of that stuff EXISTED on the trail. I was amazed what all was found. And part of the scavenger hunt was "I Spy" style... such as "The rider number of a palomino", or "The license plate number of a pickup with a gray shoofly on the mirror." And there was that Bison Brand trailer question.....turns out it was a red herring, as the people we KNEW would be bringing a Bison trailer brought a different trailer, so everyone searched in vain. Ah well. Kept em occupied. LOL (We didn't do it on purpose, folks, honest.)

The scavenger hunt was a great activity for the hours before the ride actually started. Several people took this VERY seriously-- we saw whole families scouring the edges of the campground, riders accosting strangers to demand to know their ride number, people taking names and license plate numbers. Great way to meet new people! Some didn't even know they were part of the game, .... like Jan Cz. "Rider number of someone wearing a red, white, and blue helmet." Turns out there was only one. :)

Some answers were quite creative. Others were obviously taking a guess! (Lime green horseshoe!! C'mon-- it was pink!) LOL We got a good laugh out of the bag-lady duty. A couple of the kids came and wanted to know where some of the things were, like the "Spy the bird that "doesn't belong" along the trail. What was it?" (the plastic pink flamingo). One said brown thrush. I mean,... far be it for me to argue that, he may be right, but we aren't intelligent enough to actually have that as an answer on our list. Ours were a little more simple-minded!

And people were hallucinating. They were seeing giant mice on all kinds of things besides the FLAG that Mickey Mouse was on! So, we ended up with a 5-way tie of the scavenger over-achievers who had EVERYTHING (except the license plate of that Bison Trailer)... so it ended up in a tie-breaker, guessing the number of corn kernels in the jar----which Troy and John Vasa had to shuck and count into a jar. Those poor guys really got a work-out that day, I'll tell ya! Bless their little corn-shuckin' hearts.

Next year we need a longer list--- and a larger Ziploc.

Gosh, I've spent so much time on the Scavenger Hunt, I'm going to have to do a Part 3to finish out the day!

(To Be Continued)

Stories from the Trail - Day 2 ( Part 1)

Stories of the Trail - Day 2 (Part 1) By Guest Blogger, Sheila Christiansen

I woke up at 0500 --- before the crack of dawn (potty break)--- and marveled at the beautiful sky that had appeared sometime during the night. When I went to bed it was foggy and overcast and I couldn't see much of anything! Tammy was gracious to share her beautiful new LQ space with me.

Have I mentioned that that trailer could have been MINE? I had talked to the seller prior, when I was still considering upgrading to a gooseneck. Kicking self--- ow, ow, ow!!

So as I was saying, I woke up early. Tammy and Shari had plans to ride out again at 0730 to add more directional signs and take some more stuff out. I had plans to sleep in. But my plans didn't work out. I was just---awake! After they left the camp was coming alive, so I hauled more water to the camel and gave him his breakfast. I swear he never drinks this much unless someone is hauling it to him by hand. There was a big water tank for us with a hose to fill buckets, and a port-a-potty, which was a great convenience. I had brought some water for Cooper with me, but he went through that in a hurry.

I digress.

I was anxious to get that bridge delivered to its spot. It's a heavy sonofagun and I wasn't sure how much difficulty it would be to get it out of the truck and to its place on the trail. Turns out, with a 4-wheeler and a couple men it wasn't too hard at all! All ya have to do is stand there and direct! Lol. I felt much better once it was there.

People started pulling in around 9:00 or 9:30, I'd say. We started the signing in process at 10:00; Kathy came up with this great little welcome speech, explaining what was in their packet, instructing them to go ahead and put their numbers on and begin on the scavenger hunt right away, since some of the stuff was in camp, etc. She said she got some 'big eyes' from people when she was giving the spiel--- must have sounded like more than they thought they had signed up for!



EVERY one we were expecting came. I was amazed, I thought for sure we would have two or three no-shows, but we didn't have any. We got word that one rider canceled that morning, but an extra kid showed up, so she took his place. Amazing. Exactly 50 riders.

We had volunteers all over, everyone was so willing to help, I think the sign-in went very well. Some people were saddled up and warming up and it was only 10:00!! I asked Kathy if they realized that ride-out didn't happen until 1:00? Guess they did. Most just rode around camp, or north toward the lake. I'd given the okay that if anybody cheated and sneaked onto the trail they could be shot in the back (I meant a camera shot, of course, so we could see their number). LOL

At 10:30 we had the judges' meeting, handed out their packets and scorecards, etc, talked about the rules, caught Joel up, since he'd been ignoring his emails. There's always one ....



12:30- Ride meeting, explaining the game, the map, answered a few questions. Everybody was ready.

1:00 Mike Reis took Corie and me and all our stuff and all Mary's stuff out to our obstacles. It took us a little longer than anticipated to do all of that, so right after Corie and I had gotten our chairs in place and our drinks out and I was thinking about having my sandwich, Jess and Laurie Werner showed up! It was about 1:20 or so, guess we didn't realize 1) that it was so late, and 2)that it only took 15-20 minutes to get from camp to Obstacle 1! From that moment on we had a bottleneck.

At each obstacle each rider was asked a knowledge question. Mine was: "Name one conformational defect that has another animal's name in it." I bet not more than 1/3 of the riders could think of one! (Can you??) That is a hippology question that the 4-H kids are sometimes asked, according to Shari.

We gave them 10-15 seconds to answer the question, then I read the obstacle instructions to them, then they had 60 seconds to complete it. So each contestant required approximately 2 minutes at an obstacle. Groups of 2-6 people would arrive at a time and wait around for each other, so we gathered quite a few people around our area! I read as fast as I could, but just couldn't make it go any faster! My one regret as a judge is that I couldn't really take my time to write comments (you know how much I like to comment..).

We were busy for about an hour and forty-five minutes..then we were done. Boom. Suddenly everyone was through and Jen and Tanya were there (they followed the last riders). So we packed up, called a cab (Mike R. on his 4-wheeler) and headed back to camp. And by the time we got THERE, the first riders were arriving!


(To Be Continued)

Stories from the Trail - Day 1

For the most up-to-date and entertaining report of our Trail Challenge & Scavenger Hunt, I am turning the blog over to one of the co-chairs of the event, my friend Sheila Christiansen.

Sheila & Cooper

Stories of the Trail - Day 1 by Sheila Christiansen

OK, so Tammy gave you the proper, media-safe rundown on the event. Now let's get down to the REST of the story.

Day 1, Friday, Tammy, Shari, and I made plans to meet at the Branched Oak horse campground early in the afternoon to mark trails. Mary, Kathy and Rich Newberg, Sandy and Mike, Mike Anderson, Tanya, and some other volunteers -- sorry if I am failing to mention you, the days are running together in my memory, --- were also there. Plus several participants had come that day to camp over prior to the event the next day. We told them it was all a big secret so they couldn't ride the trails in advance, which added to the intrigue I'm sure. Ha.



So, we didn't get started onto the trail until 4:00; Shari and Wiley, Tammy and Windy, Kathy and Moon, Rich and Sonny, me and Cooper. And Mary and Sunny also joined up with us a little farther on. Oh, and let's not forget Chainsaw Mike on his ATV, following us and stopping to saw down branches and trees as needed.

I don't believe Coop and I have ever had an ATV following us before, or a chainsaw periodically starting up and limbs dropping out of trees. He acted like it was no big deal, so it wasn't. He did great! The only spook we had was when Windy farted. :/

Kathy seemed to be having a great time back there putting ribbons on trees. She said she'd never done that before (nor have I)! Shari and Tammy were directing, as to what color ribbon goes where. Geez, I don't know what we would have done without Shari's CTR experience in doing this trail marking business--- it's a big, confusing job!! I was lost 90% of the time, pretty sure I could have never followed that trail, even WITH the map, so I was sort of glad I didn't have to. Ha. But most people did great with it, from what I'm hearing. I'm trail-map challenged.

At one point Shari was carrying the gorilla in front of her on the saddle; Tammy was carrying a Christmas tin which she would periodically fling around and bang Windy on the butt with; and Kathy was carrying a Christmas tree. I think Shari also had pillowcases with pink flamingos on her saddle. We were laughing about what a hiker would think if they saw us coming..... hmmmmm.........

We were out on the trail 3.5 hours that night, marking stuff. (Trail Time hours! woohoo!) I had brought Shari's trail bridge from her house in the back of my pickup, plus two big black trash bags filled with hay and wood, two big white seed bags (drag bags) filled with birdseed and aluminum cans, also in the back of my pickup. Plus the rest of the stuff I would need, like a cooler, my electric fence stuff, ropes, cones, and so on. I think the neighbors were really glad when I drove off. I could almost hear them: "Esther, the neighborhood is going to the dogs..."

I still feel like a total amateur when I am around people who have horse camped and done all these horse events; they are all so prepared! Tables, awnings, ways and means to cook 'real' food-- something more than peanut butter crackers and energy bars. So, after the trail marking ride we organized who had brought what, finished making up the participants' handout bags, planned out times and who would do what, etc. I didn't hear of too much we had totally spaced off, so that was a miracle.

We had a late supper and a campfire, anticipated a fun day. Some of the other campers joined us and everyone sat around and told funny stories, we all got our daily requirement of belly-laughs, much of which came from the x-rated descriptions of the map that Tammy kept coming up with. Geez, I don't know where that girl's mind is! It's bad when your obstacle is described as 'partway up the shaft'.... and that wasn't the worst of it....

It was misty and foggy on Friday, but when I woke up before dawn the next morning the sky was so clear you could see a zillion stars and it promised to be a day to remember!....

(To be continued)

We Pulled It Off

A few years ago, in preparation for an upcoming Competitive Trail Ride, I attended a "mock" CTR put on by NECTRA, the local distance riding club. To give us a good flavor of the sport, they set it up as if we were really attending a Competitive Trail Ride. From having our trailers set up for camping to the vet checks. Then we were provided with a map and we saddled our horses and started the ride. Along the way, they set up obstacles that we might see on a CTR. Those few hours were to give us a taste for the sport. And it did.

Following that ride, I couldn't help but think that this one day, shortened version might appeal to a group of riders who aren't interested in distance riding or speed or camping or the long miles. A shortened version like this mock CTR might be just enough for a certain demographic of riders. Those who just want to spend an afternoon trail riding with their horse, but perhaps up the ante a little bit.

Last year, a fairly new organization came along and started sanctioning a similar type ride. Follow a trail, attempt obstacles along the way and call it a day at the end of the ride. The one scheduled nearest to me did not come to fruition. Cost? Although the entry fees weren't terribly bad, the additional required membership fee made it more spendy than I wanted to pay for a day ride. Then to further dampen my enthusiasm, their affiliation with what I believe to be a "faux" rescue group left a sour taste in my mouth. I'm from farm country. Beef, chicken, pork and the grain that feeds it is our livelihood. I won't support an organization that threatens our way of life.

Meanwhile, each year The Nebraska Horse Trails Committee hosts a game day to raise funds for our organization. Although always successful, wouldn't a "trail challenge" be more geared toward trail riders? And there is no law that says it has to be sanctioned by any organization. I know how to stinkin' trail ride! I got together with my friend Shari Parys, who organized the mock CTRs and Sheila Christiansen, who had as much fun at the mock CTR as I did and we started brainstorming about putting on a ride such as this…. A trail ride. Obstacles. How about a Scavenger Hunt and I Spy? It could all be done in an afternoon. Could we get 25 or maybe 30 riders? All we had to lose was our time. And we went for it!

If you build it they will come. Yesterday, fifty riders entered our 1^st Annual NHTC Trail Challenge & Scavenger Hunt and it was 100% successful! Wow! How often does that happen on the first try? Oh, sure. I won't get so cocky as to say there weren't hiccups along the way, but the success of this ride was measured by smiles. watching the horses entered in the competition, you would think none of them ever had a bad day. And judging from the grins on the rider's faces and the laughter on the trails, I believe they felt it was worth their time and donation.

Sheila Christiansen has a beautiful way of telling the story. The next few posts to this blog highlighting the event, will be hers.