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2011 National Trail Rides

The 2011 Show and Celebration National Trail Rides had the largest participation in a number of years. Seventy riders from 10 different states took part in one or more of the five National Trail Rides that were offered this week. There were a total of 195 individual rides taken.

The youngest rider was 10 year old Tanner Esther. Tanner’s great grandfather was Dale Esther whom this Arena was named for. Tanner, I am sure your great- grandfather would be quite proud of you. The oldest rider was Mr. Vincil Woods. Mr. Woods is 91 years old. Mr. Woods actually did two rides…the 14mile Grounds Ride on Monday and the 12 mile Crystal Lake ride on Thursday. Way to go Mr. Woods!!! Now that is what I call young at heart.

So far this trail riding season we have had two riders that have achieved forty National Trail Rides: Delmas Watson who completed his fortieth National Ride this spring and Wilma Hamby of Ava who completed her fortieth National Ride on Tuesday’s ride. Congratulations to both of you.

A big thank you to the National Trail Ride Committee whose members schedule and lead all our National Trail Rides during the Show and Celebration.

Steve

Today’s National Trail Ride was at the Bateman Ranch up on the Glade Top Trail. The Bateman Ranch is a great place to ride. There are miles and miles of trails that take you through the wood, fields, glades and bottoms of the eight hundred areas that make up the Bateman Ranch area of the Mark Twain National Forest. The Bateman Ranch is nestled in the middle of the National Forest with unlimited riding over thousands of acres.

For today’s ride we planned to ride just a small part of the ranch. We hit the trails at 10:30 AM heading towards the school bus. Dale Lawson was our trail boss and he was riding his great trail horse Pepper. Thirty two riders followed Dale out of the trailhead including Tanner Easter our youngest rider of the week. Tanner is ten years old. It was great having Tanner on the ride. His great-grandpa Dale Easter would have been proud of him. The main arena at the Show Grounds is named after Dale Easter. I hope I have the spelling of the name right. Well in any case Tanner’s fox-trot roots go back a long way. It was great to have him and his dad on the ride.

The trail up to the old school bus takes you up through several meadows and then into the woods and spits you out on to a large glade. The views are great but the footing is rocky. We kept climbing as the trail wound around the glade towards the school bus. As the riders looked south they could see the Hercules Tower and the Hercules Wilderness Area about ten miles in the distance. Again the skies were crystal clear and the temperatures mild, perfect riding weather.

Dale took a short break at the school bus which really is an old school bus. How it got up on the glade miles from any road is beyond me! From the school bus we started down to Caney Creek but as we went down Dale took a right onto an old fire trail we call the Middle Trail. It is a beautiful trail through the deep wood that ends up at the south end of the Bateman bottoms. When we reached the bottom of the trail we watered our horses and then took the ridge trail up to our lunch spot.

We had lunch in the woods and everyone was having such a great time visiting it was hard to get them up and going again. Our goal was get back to the trailers by 1:30 PM so we could get back to the Show Grounds by 4:00 PM to see the Budweiser Horses. But with a few of Joe Hamby’s trail yells every body was up and ready to ride.

From our lunch spot the ridge trail leads down to the Bateman bottom and then it was off to the races. People just let their fox-trotters out and away they went up the bottoms. It was great fun. There are not many places where we ride as flat and smooth as the Bateman bottoms and every one took full advantage.

Well we were moving so fast that the ride stretched out into three groups. The back two groups then lost contact with the lead group and missed a turn and continued down the bottoms away from the trailhead where the trailers were parked. To compound matters we lost radio contact with Dale. By this time Dale’s group had looped around and was heading back to the trailers.

Soon the drag group realized the error of their ways and decided to reverse directions and head back south to the trailers. The middle group opted to continue on and looking for a different trail that would take them back to the trailers. All is well that ends well. Both groups made it back to the trailers by 2:30 PM. And everyone had a great ride.

Steve

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Today was the Crystal Lake Ranch National Ride and I was there to get the ride started but I could not go on the ride. I had to attend the Affiliate Meeting back at the Show Grounds. Fortunately my horse Dusty got to go and he told me all about the ride. So you can say this report is from the horse’s mouth!!!

Well it was another great day for trail riding and what better place to ride than Crystal Lake. We had 47 riders, our largest turnout yet. On today’s ride we also had our oldest rider, 91 years old. Dusty could not remember his name but he was from Bolivar, Missouri.

The ride was lead by Nancy Emerson Perryman who is one of the owners of the Ranch. Nancy’s parents began putting the ranch and fish farm together in the 1950s. The ranch is now owned by Nancy and her two brothers. The Emersons have been very generous to host National Rides for us.

On today’s ride we had several horses that lost shoes including my horse Dusty. I just put that shoe back on two days ago. So much for my horse shooing ability. Luckily the Trail Committee had several Easy Boots with them so the flats were quickly fix and the ride continued on.

Nancy took the riders on some trails that we had not ridden before and the scenery was beautiful. Some of the trails were very narrow and just great to ride while some of the trails were wide and allowed for time to visit with friends. As usual the lunch break was at the cabin and the riders broke into small groups to eat and visit. The cabin makes for a perfect lunch break spot.

Back in the saddle after lunch and another hour and a half of exploring this wonderful ranch and the group was back at the trailers and ready to head back home. The group had a great ride. It makes me jealous just to think about it. Now I am not saying that the Affiliates Meeting was not fun and exciting but I would have rather been riding.
Dusty, however, told me he enjoyed the ride and had a much better rider today.

Tomorrow’s ride is at the Bateman Ranch up on the Glade Top Trail. Trailers leave from the show grounds at 9:00 AM. The ride will end a little earlier tomorrow about 1:30 PM so everyone can get back to the Show Grounds to see the Budweiser Horses.

Hope to see you tomorrow on America’s Trail Horse the Missouri Fox Trotter.

Well this is my second attempt at writing a blog about the Pear Tree National trail ride. I wrote one last night but my computer skills are about even with my horse riding skills, which is to say that they are quite lacking. In any case I lost my whole blog into some computer black hole.

So here we go again. We had 42 riders on the Pear Tree ride and we all had a great time. Dale Lawson was our trail boss. Dale and his horse Pepper started off at a pretty good clip because we had a bit of a late start. Dale had us fox trotting at every opportunity as we rode the Pear Tree trail down to the Bateman Ranch bottoms. Along the way there were a number of great views. The best view was from a high glade just before you go down to the Bateman bottoms. T o my knowledge the glade does not have a name but the view is breath taking. All you can see for miles and miles in every direction is forest. This is what the Ozarks must have looked like before the settlers came.

From the glade it was down to the bottoms of the Bateman Ranch and a great stretch of fox trotting on flat smooth ground, a very rare commodity in the Ozarks. Then it was back up the trail that leads to the Elk Ranch. Along the way we stopped for lunch at a deer camp which quickly over flowed with 42 horses and riders. It was quite a sight. There were horses everywhere!

Then it was back in the saddle and on our way to the Elk Ranch trailhead. Along the way we were able to look north and in the distance (about four miles as the cow flies) we saw the Glade Top Glade were we had lunch on our Corbitt Potter ride on Tuesday. We swung through the Elk Ranch Trailhead and headed back east towards the Pear Tree. Now this totally confused my horse Dusty. He was certain that his trailer was waiting for him at the Elk Ranch trailhead. That is where we usually park.

The trail from Elk Ranch back to the Pear tree was, I think, the most beautiful trail of the ride. We rode through a beautiful forest of mature hard wood and then through a small glade and into a large forest of stately long leaf pines. It was like being in Church. From the pines Dale and Pepper lead a very happy group of trail riders back to their trailers.

Steve

Well we had a great ride today 42 riders. Our largest National Ride in some time. I will write more about the ride tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s ride is at Crystal Lake Ranch. It will be a great ride do not miss it. Trailers will leave at 9:00 AM. See you tomorrow.

What a great day for a National Trail Ride! Today’s ride was at Corbitt Potter and we had a tremendous turnout. Thirty-six riders set out from the Corbitt Potter Homestead and were promptly led into the brush when our tail boss lost his way and missed the trail. Unfortunately the trail boss was me! After a brief detour we found our way to the Arkansas View. The sky was crystal clear and you could easily see all the way to the St. Francis Mountains in Arkansas over twenty miles away. The problem was I had planned to lead the ride in the other direction.

Well as all trail riders know, sometimes you just have to change your plans so we decided to do the ride backwards and ride the Arkansas View loop first. So on we went down the trail with beautiful views all around us. No gaiting on this trail as it is rough but a great ride down through a large glade. Once we got to the bottom of the trail we were able to gait along the bottom and then a long climb up and out to the Prieskorn Ridge Trail. There we rode through beautiful woods full of oaks and pines.

This part of the ride is so beautiful and I was simply so overcome by the joy of being on my horse Dusty on such a beautiful trail that I completely missed the cut-off I planned to take. Sometimes it just does not pay to be the trail boss. Now no one on the ride would have known about my mistake except that my drag rider called up on the walkie-talkie, and said, “Hey Steve you missed your trail. You must be from Michigan. Do you know where you are going?” Sure enough I was going the wrong direction again. So we kept going the wrong direction until it became the right direction.

We continued on down Prieskorn Ridge and eventually ended up on the Glade Top Glade and stopped for lunch right at noon. We had lunch up on the glade with sweeping views all around us. Even though we fell short of making our usual lunch stop, it was a great place to view the scenery and visit with friends old and new.

After lunch we dropped down onto the Water Hole trail and then wound our way back up to the Glade Top Trail. Water Hole is a great trail and everyone enjoyed riding it. But the best part is now we were finally going in the right direction. What a trail Boss!! We crossed the Glade Top trail and finished the ride with some great deep woods trail riding. At 2:00 PM we were back at the trailers, with no one lost, no one hurt, and a relieved trail boss.

Tomorrow’s National Ride is at the Pear Tree on Skyline Rd just off the Glade Top Trail again in the National Forest. Trailers will leave across from the Show Grounds at 9:00 AM. Again this is a beautiful ride. We hope to see you there on America’s best trail horse your Missouri Fox Trotter.

Steve

The first National Ride of this year’s Fall Show and Celebration is done. Today was the Grounds Ride and we had 32 riders that left the grounds at 9:00 AM, at a fox-trot. Along the way eight more riders joined in. The weather was perfect for a trail ride. The temperature was in the low 60’s to start the ride and gradually worked its way up to the low 70’s. The skies were so blue that it hurt your eyes. The wind was brisk, you had to watch your hat, but it kept the flies away.

The ride moved along at a good pace as it wound through the roads and trails behind the show grounds. Riders broke into small groups as they rode along meeting old friends and making new ones. Because much of the ride was on the road it gave people a great opportunity to ride and visit.

Lunch break was taken at the Letsinger Farm, where Barbara had fresh baked chocolate chip cookies ready and Herchell provided fresh tomatoes from their garden. It was worth the ride just to eat the cookies (they were still warm) and to rest in the Letsinger’s beautiful backyard.

After the lunch break it was back in the saddle again with a flat-foot walk and a lot of fox-trotting back to the Show Grounds. With flat surfaces and long straight areas the fox trotters could move right along. And move along they did! The average speed on the ride was 4.5 miles and hour. The group arrived back at the Show Grounds at 2:00 PM. Everyone had a great time.

Tomorrow’s National Ride will be at the Corbitt Potter homestead in the Mark Twain National Forest on the Glade Top Trail. This is a very beautiful ride that you will not want to miss. Trailers leave across from the Show Grounds at 9:00 AM and the ride starts at 10 AM.

See you on the trails on America’s best trail horse your Missouri Fox trotter.

What a great day to trail ride. After so much hot weather it was great to hit the trails on a nice cool day and hit the trails we did. Kate and I and our friends Sam and Debbie Gerhardt took a great warm-up ride around our farm and then out on the neighboring ranch. It was fun to show off our little corner of the Ozarks. We are very blessed with wonderful trail riding right out our back door.

The horses seemed to also appreciate the cool weather. They were eager to go!!!
We had some great fox-trots, lots of steady walking, and I even got to sneak in a short canter. It was great to be able to move along on the trail and not have to worry about your horse over- heating.

It looks like the weather will be great for the five National Trail Rides that are scheduled this week. The first ride is tomorrow, Monday, September 5. The ride is called the Grounds Ride because it begins on the Show Grounds. The ride quickly moves to the gravel roads South and West of the Grounds. The ride will begin at 9:00 AM. The Grounds Ride is usually our largest ride of the week. We hope that you will be able to join us on one or more of the rides this week.

See you on the trail on America’s Trail Horse.

Back to blogging! I am sorry about yesterday’s spelling mistakes. My editor- and- chief, my wife Kate, did not check my work before I sent it out. I still haven’t figured out how someone who had to take freshman English in college three times ended up having to write a blog.

Well we do not have a trail ride to report on today but we did have a great day down at the Fox Trot Playground Obstacle Course. This was the first time that the Fox Trot Playground was used for a contest and everyone had a great time. The course is located in the dry-camp area of the Show Grounds.

The Versatility Committee hosted a Jack-pot run on the obstacle course. They charged five dollars per rider and all the money went back to the first, second and third place winners. Fourteen riders took part and they all did a great job. I am not sure who the winners were because I had to leave before the points were totaled. Members of the Versatility Committee served as judges and followed the riders through the 18 obstacles on the course. The horses and riders were judged on each obstacle using a ten point scale. An overall time was not kept but the horse and rider had 30 second to complete each obstacle. It took most riders about 15 to 20 minutes to complete the course.

I was very impressed by all the riders. They did a great job. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the course. My horse Dusty and I have tried the course and it is great fun. Well now, to be honest, I thought it was great fun. Dusty was not quite as impressed with the course as I was. There were several obstacles that he was sure were going to eat him!

The Fox Trot Playground will be open all week long. If you are on the grounds this week, and have a horse to ride, go on down and give it a try. There are maps in the mailbox at the start of the course and arrows to direct you around the course. Have a great time on America’s Trail Horse your Missouri Fox Trotter. Let us know what you think of the course.

We road Brown’s cave on Wednesday and had a great ride. Kate and I were riding with our local club the Douglas County Fox Trotters. We had ten riders on the ride. There have been two major floods in this area and many of the trails have been severely damaged especially on the Rippie Creek part of the ride. Because of the trail damage we decided to have an exploratory ride to look for new trails along Bryant Creek.

The Brown’s Cave ride is usually on the schedule for the National Rides during the week of the Fall Show and Celebration but because of all the trail damage we were not able to schedule it this year.

Several of the rides had not been up to the cave so took a few minutes and road up to the mouth on the cave. Brown’s Cave is big you can ride your horse right into it. My horse Dusty was not thrilled about riding into the cave but with some encouragement he road in. Ever time I visit the cave I picture Indians living there. It would have been a perfect location. After we left the cave we had several nice river crossings as we wandered down Bryant Creek.

After about an hour we began to explore some new areas that we have not ridden before. We found some beautiful bluffs. The bluffs were at least one hundred feet high but we were not able to get past the bluffs or cross the Bryant Creek under the bluffs because it was so deep. So we had to back track and save exploring that area for another day.

There is so much great riding in the Ava area and so many areas to ride and explore. Brown’s Cave is just one of the great rides. I hope that you will be able to join one of the National Rides this week. The schedule is in the Journal, on the MFTHBA web-site and also printed on one of my blogs.

If you are not able to make the rides you can follow them on my blog. I will be writing every day about each ride so stay tuned.