Trail Mix. ITRA Midwest Trail Ride Outing By John Allen MARK YOUR CALENDERS. ITRA s MTR Cowboy Challenge winners.

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1 INDIANA TRAIL RIDERS ASSOCIATION, INC. Post Office Box 185 Farmland, IN Return Address Requested PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID NOBLESVILLE, IN PERMIT NO. 21 Trail Mix The Official Publication of the Indiana Trail Riders Association, Inc. November, 2018 ITRA GOLD NUGGET CORP ITRA BRONZE NUGGET CORPORATE SPONSOR ITRA Midwest Trail Ride Outing By John Allen We had a great weekend for our annual get together at Midwest Trail Ride. The weather, though humid, was good out on the trails. Bob and Debbie McPheeters put on a great spaghetti dinner again this year. The euchre party, organized by Barb Ferguson, was attended by 12 of us. We hosted one of the largest pitch-in dinners in several years. The estimated attendance was 180 hungry trail riders. The silent auction, as usual, was a great place to find bargains. Aside from members contributions we had donations from Kerlin Trailers, Cowpokes and The Outpost in Trafalgar, Indiana and a prison group made and donated a quilt. As in the past, Jeff and Kim Humphries donated 10% of the members camping fees back to ITRA. The members that camped, through the generosity of Jeff and Kim, made a significant contribution to ITRA. The weekend netted us over $4,000 that will be applied to promote Indiana horse trails. Thank you all!! Join or Renew ITRA USE THIS FORM (Please Print) Membership renewal Due by Hoosier Horse Fair Name: Spouse: Address: City: St: Zip: Home Phone: Cell Phone: County: Referring Member: Mail completed form with check payable to ITRA at: Indiana Trail Riders Association, Inc. Post office Box 185 Farmland, IN Or use Paypal to renew on our website Family Membership $ Association (Club) Membership $ Trail Guide (postage-1 per member) $ 3.00 Trail Guide 2016 has been published good for 3 years until Trail Fund Donation Amount $ Newsletter by US Postal Service Do not send hard copy will access Trail Mix on website Membership renewal due by Hoosier Horse Fair Indiana Trail Riders Mission Statement The purpose of the Indiana Trail Riders Association is to promote trail riding and equine activities in Indiana and the surrounding area. The Indiana Trail Riders are involved on the local, state, and national levels striving to promote and improve trails and campgrounds. We work actively on the legislative and administrative levels as well as sponsoring and organizing workdays on several recreational properties in the hope that the natural beauty we have enjoyed on horseback will be available for future generations as well. We re on the Web at: The EDGe ( discussion Group) is a wonderful FREE communication tool for ITRA members with an internet connection. Send a blank to IndianaTrailRiders-subscribe@egroups.com Subscription is free and you can unsubscribe at any time. Advertise in the Trail Mix---Full Page $100.00, Half Page $50.00, Quarter Page $25.00, Bus Card Size Ad. $ November, 2018 ITRA TRAIL LEAD CORPORATE SPONSOR MARK YOUR CALENDERS Nov. 3, 2018 Clark Deam Lake Fundraiser Nov , 2018 O Bannon SP Clean-up Nov , 2018 Brown Co. SP Clean-Up ITRA s MTR Cowboy Challenge winners. Youth challenge winner was awarded a quilt donated by Hoosier Backcountry Horsemen. ITRA s infamous pitchin dinners always has a full house. 1

2 ITRA Calendar The Indiana Trail Riders *STATEMENT OF PURPOSE The purpose of the Indiana Trail Riders Association is to promote trail riding and equine activities in Indiana and the surrounding area. The ITRA is involved on local, state and national levels striving to promote and improve trails and campgrounds. November 3, 2018 November 17-20, 2018 November 23, 24, 25, 2018 We work actively on the legislative and administrative levels as well we sponsoring and organization workdays on several recreational properties in the hope that the natural beauty we have enjoyed on horseback will be available for future generations as well. The corporate address is Post Office Box 185, Farmland, Indiana President John Allen 9825 South 100 East Clayton., IN Greg Hersberger (Chairman) South 250 West Portland, IN Vice President Larry Sidell 273 East 1200 North Batesville, In Barb Ferguson S. Glenn Lane Salem, IN ITRA OFFICERS Treasurer Cynthia Harnish 9398 S 875 E Walkerton, IN harnishcl1959@gmail.com ITRA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Bob McPheeters North 100 West Anderson, IN bob@lighthousestables.com Secretary Phyllis Legan 1498 S. Co. Rd. 775 E Coatesville, IN plegan@tds.net Greg Wilkins S. Cr. 475 E. Selma, IN squeaky91658@gmail.com Deam Lake SRA Horse Campground CLARK DEAM HORSE TRAIL FUNDRAISER Silent Auction Items needed, Pitch-In dinner (6:00 pm) All proceeds go to DNR Foundation earmarked for Clark/Deam Horse Trails Contact: Barb Ferguson (812) itra.barb@gmail.com Debbie Maschmeyer (502) or Sue Keith O Bannon State Park O Bannon Fall Clean-Up Contact Greg Hersberger: Brown County State Park Brown County Fall Clean-Up Contact John Allen: Nancy Brunnemer North 500 West McCordsville, IN toby2thor1@hotmail.com Duane Davis N 900 W Huntington, IN duanedavis044@gmail.com Scotty Eskridge 19 P. O. Box 234 Knox, Karen Humphreys North 425 East Danville, IN kkh923@aol.com Rita Lockridge East 300 North Lafayette, In ritajorvt@gmail.com Debbie Maschmeyer ' Henryville-Bluelick Rd. Henryville, IN debmaschmeyer@aol.com Chris Riehl E. 200 S Dillsboro, IN top4653cat@aol.com Yvette Rollins E. Rollins Lane Springville, IN hoosierhorsemen@yahoo.com Jim Tremain 20 PO Box Indianapolis, IN jimmyt911@gmail.com Mary Williams East 191 st Street Noblesville, IN williamtm@embarqmail.com Cindy Wyse West 750 South Trafalgar, IN carousel7555@gmail.com Members are always welcome to contribute articles about their trail riding experiences. Please send articles to Mary Williams, Trail Mix Editor. See ya on the trail!! Help Wanted Due to a change in my health with much sadness I am looking for someone to take over my duties as the Trail Mix editor. The entire newsletter is now totally set up on the computer. Interested persons need to attend board meetings and have a working knowledge of Word (managing text boxes, multiple pages, importing pictures & PDF files with ability to enhance pictures), Excel files, as well as working with a local Post Office for bulk mailing, advertisers, and a local printer. Interested persons should contact ITRA s President or Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mary Williams ITRA APPOINTED POSITIONS Membership Chairperson Bonnie Miller 8181 W. 100 S Farmland, IN itramembership@gmail.com ITRA Web Site Administrator Trail Mix Editor Mary Williams East 191 st Street Noblesville, IN williamtm@embarqmail.com Trail Guide Editor John Allen 9825 South 100 East Clayton, IN Johnfallen1947@gmail.com This Trail Mix Newsletter is the Official Publication of the Indiana Trail Riders Association. It is published six times a year in odd numbered months. Editorial material, photos, and notices of upcoming events should be submitted to williamtm@embarqmail.comm or mailed to Mary Williams East 191 st Street Noblesville, IN by the 10 th of even months. Round 2 It Ranch LLC N 800 E Ossian, IN (260) round2it@onlyinternet.net vkbuckskin@gmail.com Call for Appointment! Book our Tack Trailer for Your Equine events! Select the Best Horse Health Solutions Nu-Image, Nu-Hoof, Select I&II, Nu-Weight.and the rest of the line. (Dealer Inquiries Welcome & Wanted) Mayatex~ Triple E ~ Toklat Parker Nylon ~ Congress Leather Troxel Helmets ~ Showman Products Wells 5 Star Pads ~ Bar F Leanin T Ranch Halters & Leads Cowboy Magic~ Mare Magic ~ Ultra And oh! So much more!! Discount Copies Teresa Peil & Sara Ballew 100 Mensa Drive * Noblesville, IN (317) * Fax (317) Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30 to 5:30 * Sat 10:00 to 3:00 discountcopies96@gmail.com 2

3 ITRA Updates Calling All ITRA 2019 Director Candidates By Mary Williams ITRA Director and Officer Elections will be held at our 2019 March Annual Meeting. There will be director positions available. Anyone interested in becoming more involved in our organization needs to send a short biography and an optional picture to any Director, Officer, or Mary Williams by December 1, We need anyone who is interested and willing to help us keep our horse trails open. We are looking for a variety of people from different locations around the state to support local clubs and state parks. Midwest Equine Trail Foundation Contact Chris Riehl For Contributions and Grants at Midwest Equine Trail Foundation 3158 E. 200 S Dillsboro, IN ATTENTION: All Indiana Trail Riders There is a new way to support Midwest Equine Trail Foundation, Inc. Anyone who has an Amazon account can go to and choose Midwest Equine Trail Foundation as your designated charity. Amazon will donate 0.5% of your purchase price to M.E.T.F. Remember, only purchases at smile.amazon.com, (not or the mobile app,) support charity. Amazon donations are issued four times per year (February, May, August, and November) for donations generated in the previous quarters. What a free and easy way to support Indiana horse trails!! ITRA Still Needing Donations for Skid Steer Attachments Thanks for your past support!! ITRA Membership Dues Family Membership $30.00 Association (Club) Membership $ Thank you to everyone for their continued support!!! 3

4 A Word from ITRA s President, John Allen I recently had the opportunity to attend a trail expansion planning session at Governor Holcomb s residence. Governor Holcomb announced he had made available $90 million dollars of Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) funds for the expansion of hike and bike trails in the state. These funds are not for any DNR park or forest trails. The state legislature has frozen those funds; however, the governor did say he would work to make them available to the DNR. Keep your fingers crossed but don t hold your breath, you might pass out as you wait. This new funding is an effort to enhance the state's ability to attract high quality employment opportunities for our citizens. Businesses want to relocate to areas that have good quality of life infrastructure available for the employees. A stated goal was to have "shovel ready" projects to apply for grant funds by January, The 25 attendees were statewide organizations such as small and large rail to trail groups (RTP), the Nature Conservancy, the Trail Advisory Board, city planners, Indiana Land Trust, Bicycle Indiana, and yours truly representing Indiana Trail Riders Association and Midwest Equine Trails Foundation. The majority of folks were looking to receive information on how to acquire grant money for new trails or expansion of existing trails. As the discussion progressed I discovered the RTP representatives and ITRA could work together to expand access for horses on trails as new sections open or existing sections receive funds for maintenance. I pointed out ITRA has the ability to provide trail expertise and volunteers to those RTP trails that allow horses. I know of several members who live near and ride a RTP trail. The purpose of RTP trails is to have a trail 30 minutes from every citizen in the state. Many RTP administrators lack the knowledge to put in a horse trail alongside a hike/bike trail. If you want to expand your local RTP horse trail or add a horse section to an existing trail, now is the time to contact your local RTP administrator and offer to assist. Money will be forthcoming. Just offering knowledge to existing administrators could help start the ball rolling. One administrator said to me we have a 2 mile horse trail but no one uses it. Do you see the problem here? No trail rider is going to trailer to a 2 mile trail. Make it a 5 mile trail and you could take a couple of hours out of your day and have a nice ten mile ride and maybe even a picnic close to home. The RTP program is for horses however many administrators do not include them due to funding or volunteer help or perceived lack of interest. In conclusion there has never been a better time to push for a RTP trail for horse use. If you want it you have to go get it. 4 Our Beginnings By Arlene Smoot Editor s Note: This is a reprint of a series of articles that first appeared in the September, 2014 Trail Mix with this article appearing in Mar., These articles are being reprinted upon members request. Bev Jones was instrumental in moving ITRA into a more social group. She had a political background from her family and was very knowledgeable in entertaining, making people feel welcome and needed. She was able to organize many new volunteers, and we went to work trying to build a good rapport with the DNR. She and her friend Pat Moore made many trips to other states to learn how these states operated. One very social event we held each year was our VIP ride. ITRA invited every legislator in the state to Brown County Horsemen s Camp for a weekend. Anyone was welcome to stay overnight if they would like to but most just came for the day on Saturday. We started their day with an awesome lunch featuring wonderful big thick pork chops cooked over an open grill and lots of good, homemade sides and desserts. We had good safe horses available if anyone wanted to take a ride in the park, and several times we had wagons or buggies if they preferred. One time we even had a stage coach. It was a big hit. The board met with the DNR several times a year in order to discuss our and their wants and needs. We had many meetings and much discussion with the DNR about the fact we needed more trails. An agreement was finally reached to give us back half of the single file trails they had closed. Our part of the agreement was we would maintain those single file trails. Since that time, we have been successful in getting back more of those closed trails That agreement is why we always need members to volunteer when we say we need help to work on the trails. We have to keep our word given to the DNR. More next time ---- Arlene Editor s Note: Arlene had graciously agreed to write a series of articles about the founding of ITRA. Trail Tales By Calamity Jane Well folks, I hate gittin up on my soap box but I jest get fightin mad when I m out trail riding and I see so much trash, especially beer cans. Why can t folks just crunch them little ole cans up when they re finished and jist put them back in their saddle bags? They don t take up nearly as much room as when they re full. And now it seems there s more whiskey bottles and when you re on trash duty, why them suckers are shore hard to pick up with just a pokin s stick. Do these here folks live like that at their home???? Why when I am fortunate enough to get to ride out west I don t see any trash what so ever and not even toilet paper. Why is that???? I know not everyone riding out west is from there, I know lots of eastern folks haul out there to ride. Do them there easterner s think and act differently when they re out there?? It don t make no sense to me. ITRA thanks the following contributors on behalf of Norma Wells: OurHhealth LLC Jona & Jeffrey Wells Benjamin & Natasha Evans Marshall County Saddle Club to METF ITRA thanks the following organizations for continuing their 2018 ITRA Associate Memberships: Marshall County Horse Association Muncie Light Horse Club Salamonie Campers & Trail Riders 9 The VP and the Pastor By Pastor Dean Manuel Not too long ago the ITRA had our good friend Mike Pence now the Vice President of the United States down to Brown County state park to ride the trails. It was a beautiful Saturday morning with the buzz that Pence was around camp. I remember that day well. I had my team of black Percherons pulling the church wagon through the park. Then Mike Pence does something amazing, he walks directly up to me extending his hand and shakes my hand and says, thank you pastor for the work you're doing in the park. I appreciate it very much keep up the good work. And then he turns around to the crowd and says, Hey let's all get our picture taken with the pastor! With some friendlier talking and some pictures taken he rides off on our elders and his wife's Fox Trotter. What a great guy! So get out and vote for the candidate of your choice! As we come to a close of another year may God be with you and may God-bless you in the New Year and may Godbless America. Pastor Dean Manuel Horseman's Camp Christian outreach 7595 Bob Allen Rd Freetown IN Facebook Hcco Park

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6 ITRA on the Trail North Dakota Badlands June 2018 By Sara Anderson Two horses and a mule traversed the North Dakota Badlands with Irene Hagerman, Nancy Brunnemer and Sara Anderson. The first stop was Fort Ransom, ND for a day and a half of rest and riding. This is a beautiful State Park with manicured trails in the woods and grass prairies on plateaus. We rode a very small part of the North Country National Scenic Trail (NCT) which is the nations longest Scenic Trail. It stretches more than 4,600 miles across 7 northern states, 12 National Forests and more than 150 public lands with nice campgrounds having electricity. DO NOT ride if it rained the previous day because of very slick trails. There is ONE choice for a really good sandwich shop in small town of Fort Ransom. Bar X Ranch at Medora, ND was the next destination for 10 days of riding at the Ranch and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The Bar X Ranch has free range cattle and horses with numerous gates to open and close as you ride the cattle trails. We observed a cattle branding one evening. One day we rode 15 miles of the 145 mile Maah-Daah-Hey Trail; switch-backs up buttes, narrow trails on cliffs, through canyons, open grasslands and free range cattle. Another day was a ride up Buffalo Gap which included a train crossing the trestle just as we moved out from under it. They are now train broke. In Theodore Roosevelt National Park we rode two days. A band of wild horses were close enough to watch the stallion give us warnings and then move his ladies off in a new direction. It seemed like thousands of Prairie dogs barking at us. They are cute and fun to watch but are very destructive of the grasslands. We came up on a couple of lone bull buffalo. The Painted Canyon was a beautiful ride with rock formations, beautiful colors, petrified wood, gorgeous canyons and forested switchbacks up to the plateau of grasslands. Medora, ND: we did the tourist thing and enjoyed the small town of Medora. The Medora Musical is a must see. The venue is built on the side of the butte that overlooks the canyon as the backdrop for the musical. We also went to a Talking Dog comedy show and the Teddy Roosevelt Tribute with a man that looked, talked and acted like TR. Now we know where Teddy Bears came from. The final destination was Little Missouri State Park, north of Killdeer, ND. We were the only campers there for most of the time. The campground sets on the plateau with the horse corrals just feet from the drop off of the canyon wall. It was breathtaking view and much larger than the southern Badlands. We quickly experienced nose flies. They fly up into the nose of the horses and sting them. Holley, the mule, went crazy rubbing her nose on the ground, circling the pen, kicking at everything. They are so small you can t see them. After lots of fly spry and VICK s Vapor rub inside the nose the horses/mule calmed down. Again, this is a place you DO NOT ride if it has rained. The trail edges are like wet concrete, it looks solid but it moves and the horses slip and slide. This was the most challenging, rugged and some treacherous trails. I would recommend well-conditioned and solid trail horses before riding here. The pictures can t capture the depth and colors of the Badlands. We met new muleskinner friends Terry and Barb Tenneson from ND that gave us information on where to ride and where not to ride. This was a wonderful trip with great pictures and memories. I can t forget the three dogs Jacks, Surely and Betty who were great companions. The two horses and one mule kept everyone safe. Here Is One for You An editor s note about the author: Ron McCoy and his wife Karen became ITRA members in While they still lived in Indiana, Ron worked on many ITRA projects and positions including Chairman of the Board. He also wrote many stories based on his own personal experiences published in the Trail Mix through the years. Even though he retired to Arizona, Ron continued to contribute stories to the Trail Mix as well has diligently working with Larry Sidell over many years, phone calls and letters to have the horsemen s camp installed in Versailles State Park. His contributions to the Indiana Trail Riders are unmeasurable. It seems ITRA's Ron McCoy has written a new book. "Campfire Tales and Other Adventures" a collection of some sixty stories and tips on trail riding, many of which are from ITRA experiences and all are based on actual events. Here is what Ron has to say about his book Campfire Tales and Other Adventures: "I've set many goals in my life, accomplishing many of them. Retiring in 1995 I began setting some new goals that I wanted to accomplish in my retirement years. By 1997 I had a solid twenty two items. Some were not easy items. Such as building the overnight campground for horsemen in Versailles State Park. Now in 2018 I am about to cross off goal number twenty one and that is to write a book. It is now in the hands of a publisher. My expectation is that the book Campground Tales and Other Adventures will be available for on-line orders through Amazon.com or your local bookstore by mid-november. I've taken a lot of pride in compiling some sixty stories and riding tips. All are based on actual experiences collected over some sixty years. Many are stories of adventures, and I've sprinkled in a lot of humor and human interest, much of which has occurred in Indiana. I want you to order a copy of my book, so you can share these experiences with me. Hopefully, you'll be motivated to create some of your own adventures. Many Thanks. Ron 6 7