TRAP Tails. Chair Chatter. December 2016

Transcription

1 TRAP Tails Trail Rider Awards Program California State Horsemen s Assoc. Chair Chatter As the year comes to a close I look back at all I have done and where I ve been on the back of my horse. Many places would be totally inaccessible without Buddy s help. I will certainly be getting him something special for Christmas! We went so many places that I will just touch on some of them or I d have to write a book! The most memorable trip this year was the week I spent with my son in Utah riding the Paria River and Bryce Canyon in May. It rained almost every day but we rode anyway. We were wet, cold and muddy but enjoyed every minute of it! Next up would be the trip to Pine Valley with my friends. My friends had been before but it was a new place for me. My friend said the road was no problem, a straight shot to the campground. What he didn t tell me was that the last 4 miles was a very bumpy, pot hole ridden dirt road! Now I ve driven some bad roads but this took the prize! On top of that I was doing it in my new trailer! I just knew everything would be leaking or breaking, my worst nightmare! Needless to say I idled along cussing my friend the whole 40 minutes it took me to go less than 5 miles! The good news is everything survived and I will probably go back, the riding was spectacular! And yes, we are still friends! In March we went to my friend s place in Tivy Valley near Fresno where we spent a week riding the San Joaquin River Gorge, Kings Canyon Natl Park and her local trails. We went back to Yosemite in September and stayed at Wawona and finally rode the Chilnualna Falls trail. What a beautiful trail! Very technical in places but certainly doable. Of course Wrights Lake was on the list. How can you not like that place! October saw us in Southern Cali at Montana de Oro state park for the annual Mounted Patrol Poker Ride fund raiser, what fun! I hope your year was as great as ours! Bud and I wish you and yours the best of the Holiday Season and a fantastic New Year! Marie and Buddy December 2016 Inside this issue: Chair Chatter 1 Awards Presented 4 New TRAP Members 4 Contributors Needed TRAP Renewals 5 CSHA Member Clubs 5 Pony Up! 7 Contact Information 9 Find Us on Facebook 9

2 Page 2 Bryce Canyon, the Paria River and slot canyons! We had to be watchful of Quicksand in the river! Pine Valley trails were beautiful but challenging! Lauri s horse pulled a shoe about 10 miles from camp. What were the odds there would be a farrier on the trail! He worked out of the pack station and just happened to be out riding the trail!

3 Page 3 Chilnualna Falls trail in Yosemite. Lots of rock climbing but so worth it! San Juaquin River Gorge near Fresno. Beautiful wildflowers in the spring. Hot in the summer. Wrights Lake and the beach at Montana de Oro! From sea level to 8,000+ feet!

4 Page 4 Chevrons & Awards Presented Congratulations to riders who reached the following milestones since the last issue. Presented in November 2016 LaRae Sizer, Region 5, 500 Hours Chevron & Recognition Award New TRAP Members Welcome to the following new members since the last issue! Be sure to send your hours in so we can all watch them grow! December 2016 Laura Cox, Region 14 Terry Cox, Region 14 Jennifer Todd, Region 11 November Charlene Schramm, Region 11 On November 16th I was honored to present Sarah Reid of Region 1 with her Master Trail Rider award! Sarah has reported over 3,000 TRAP Hours! Many of those hours the past couple years have been for Trail Work! Congratulations Sarah on your accomplishment! Newsletter Contributors Needed! Sarah Reid from Region 1 continues her article on Trails with how to get involved in keeping trails open to equestrians and all trail users. This newsletter s purpose is to promote trail riders and that means you! Do you know of a special place to ride or camp with your horse? Do you have a camping recipe you can share? What about a tack tip? We are all looking for ways to save a little money these days! Please share your ideas and adventures with your fellow TRAP riders and send me items and pictures! You can send via at cshatrap@yahoo.com

5 Page TRAP Renewals Renewals for 2017 are due January 1st. Beat the holiday rush and renew yours today! You can quickly renew on-line (for a slight fee) using your credit card by going to the TRAP website membership page at: You can also renew your CSHA membership at the same time! If you want to just mail in your renewal, the renewal application form is also available from the above page. Remember you MUST be a CSHA member so be sure to renew your CSHA membership at the same time! If you belong to a CSHA member club be sure you are included on the roster in the CSHA State Office. I have to validate your membership before accepting your renewal or new membership, please make it easy for me! If your renewal is not received by January 31st your 2017 hours from 1/1/17 through the time it is received will not count! Don t lose any hours! Get your renewal in now! Following is a list of all CSHA Member Clubs as of 11/1/16 Please remind your club that renewals are due January 1st and that you must be listed on the roster they send to the state office! Reg CSHA Club Clear Lake Junior Horseman Mendo-Lake Arabian Horse Assoc. Napa Saddle Jackets Occidental Equestriennes Pope Valley Ropers & Riders Reno Sierra Riders Russian River Riders Sebastopol Wranglers Shoreline Riders Inc Tamalpais Trail Riders Valley Of The Moon Riding Club Desperado Horse Club Glenn County Sheriff's Posse Golden State Draft Horse + Mule Club High Mountain Riders Northern-Cal Appaloosa Association Paradise Horsemen's Association Red Bluff Riding Club California Cowgirls Equestrian Drill Team Cool Country Drill Team Hope for Horses Riding Club Running I Ranch Riders Sacramento Sheriff's Posse Reg CSHA Club Back Country Horseman of CA-Mid-Valley Unit Boots N Bonnets Trail Blazers Calaveras Saddle Club California Rhythm Riders Cavallo Cowgirls Gold Country Horsemen's Assoc. HDF Equestrian Team Manteca Horseman's Association Mariposa Mountain Riders Master Trail Riders Merced County Sheriff's Posse Rauch Ranch Club Riders Stanislaus County 4-H Equestrian DT & CG The Purpose Turlock Horsemen's Club Twain Harte Horsemen Inc. Waterford Horseman Club

6 Page 6 Reg CSHA Club Reg CSHA Club Alameda County Sheriff's Mounted Posse R 7 Blue Shadows Mtd. Drill Tm Concord Mt Diablo Trail Ride Assn R 7 Sun Mtn. Riders of So. Calif. Contra Costa County Horsemen's Assoc. R 8 Toby Wells Foundation Equestrian Center of Walnut Creek R 9 Ventura Co. Sheriff's Posse Flying Fillies Cherry Valley Horsemen's Assoc. Metropolitan Horsemen's Association Hemet Valley Gymkhana Club Orinda Horseman's Assoc. Los Caballos Riders San Ramon Valley Horsemen's Assoc. Moreno Valley Riders Smokin' Guns Rubidoux Riding Club Tilden Wildcat Horsemen's Assn. Saddle Sore Riders Inc Tri-Cities Horsemen's Assoc. Temecula Eq-Wine Riders Tri Valley Trailblazers R12 Fullerton Recreational Riders Diamonds in the Rough R13 Blue Lake Saddle Club Gold Coast Arabian Horse Association R13 Orick Star Riders Golden State Appaloosa Horse Assoc. R13 Redwood Empire Endurance Riders Los Gatos Horseman's Assoc. R14 Yucaipa Equestrian Arena Committee Monterey Bay Equestrians Palo Cedro Riders San Francisco Horsemen's Association Redding Jr Rodeo Assoc San Martin Horsemen's Assoc. Redding Women's Rodeo Assoc. Santa Cruz County Horseman Association Shasta View Quarter Horse Association Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Posse Trinity Horses & Longears Seven Counties Paint Horse Club R19 Santa Barbara Sage Hens Inc. Summit Riders Horseman's Association Sun Coast Pinto Club Watsonville Saddlites, Inc.

7 Page 7 Contributed by Sarah Reid, Region 1 Former CSHA State Trails Chair Pony-Up!! In the October TRAP Newsletter I talked about the importance of being involved in trails and parks. This article will give you tips about how you can become involved in your area and where to look. Remember: if you are not physically capable of picking up a tool and working trails, there are other ways you can help. Organizations have Trails Advocates, Trail Ambassador/Greeter, parking or work area monitors, lunch servers, helping with volunteer check-in, serving on the board, and more! And then there is always: DONATE! Get behind your trails by giving any amount you can to the organization who best serves your local trails. $100 can purchase several trail building tools or a couple of yards of base rock. No excuses: no matter how you enjoy trails, they need you. One example from my area of a way to stay engaged and ensures future access for equestrians to parks and trails is in the planning processes. Sonoma County Regional Parks has a website. On that website they have a link to Public Meetings which is the Parks & Recreation Advisory Commission, and lists the upcoming public meeting and agenda. You can also click a link for Planning Updates which gives a list of all the projects on the planning board, where they are in the process, and when the next public planning meetings are. These planning meetings are where we, as public, have the input for what we would like to see included in our park and for our trails. That means multi-use trails, parking which accommodates horse trailers, where trails go (to a view point, to something interesting, in a loop), how many miles of trails there are, and what activities are to be included for the property. If you cannot attend in person, you can contact the park planning department to give input. These planning meetings have often utilized break-out groups and seminar discussion tactics to make sure everyone s ideas are heard. These meetings are also listed in the local papers. This is a way in which I was able to help design a parking lot for Taylor Mountain RP which easily accommodates horse trailers in a separate area than passenger cars, encouraged multi-use trails in Hood Mountain RP so that equestrians can access all the interesting park features, and recommended that equestrian parking be at the top of the entrance hill at Tolay Lake RP due to the difficulty for rigs with trailers trying to plow back up the steep gravel road to get out. I am also on the planning committee for Team Sugarloaf to create a horse camp at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park. Because it was found to be in the Park Master Plan, we are able to continue with the plans. Only because of this equestrian s input do the others in the committee understand the impossibility of creating a normal campground with lined spaces does not work for equestrian campers. I also had to be creative in demonstrating the turning radius of the common length gooseneck living quarter trailers to turn off the narrow access road into the camp area without taking out the fire hydrant! Due to current requirements, we also have to plan an ADA campsite in this new camp, which includes several pipe-panel stalls. All this working around the creek and forest canopy setback, availability out through the existing parking lot, the need for porta-potty and manure bunker, and keeping the general public on the nearby nature trail from wandering into the horse camp. My equestrian eye has helped the rest of the committee of non-equestrians understand the importance of these points. Meetings are not terribly frequent, so don t anticipate having to go to a meeting a week. In our very active park planning county, I attend several meetings a year. The bad thing is, I am commonly the only equestrian who attends, out of 30,000 horses in Sonoma County. There are always lots of representatives from hiking and mountain biking groups. I am a multi-user trail advocate, so sometimes my equestrian perspective gets lost as I get-along with everyone else.

8 Page 8 Here are some examples of agencies or organizations which you can explore to get involved: Sonoma County Regional Park/East Bay Regional Parks/your local county parks Land Trust (Sonoma Land Trust/Truckee-Donner Land Trust ) Arnold Rim Trail Association Sonoma County Trails Council California State Parks/California State Parks Foundation US Forest Service (USFS) National Park Service (NPS) Back County Horsemen of America/California California Trails & Greenways Conference VoCal (Volunteers for Outdoor California) Bay Area Ridge Trail Council Sonoma Mountain Preservation Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wilderness areas (i.e. Mokulemne Wilderness has work parties on trails) Tevis Trail Association/Western States Trail Association Donner Rim Trail Association Tahoe Rim Trail Association Keep Tahoe Blue.org Key words to use to find organizations/agencies in your area: Volunteer for parks/volunteer on trails County parks/regional parks Trails council, association, club, stewardship Land trust Trail work Trail projects Trail stewardship in parks Mountain bike associations/clubs Hiking associations/clubs Equestrian/riding associations/clubs, meet-ups Park maintenance Trails maintenance Park stewardship park projects Sarah Reid, Region 1, TRAP Master Trail Rider, has been attending park planning meetings for a variety of local parks as an equestrian representative for over 10 years. She and Mustang Oreo enjoy cross-training with trail riding and basic Dressage arena work. Sarah is a multi-user trail advocate as an equestrian, hiker and trail worker, married to a trail-runner, hiker, mountain biker, and trail work crew leader (that s all in one man). You may contact Sarah for further questions or information at trailsgal@gmail.com. Happy Trails!

9 Trail Rider Awards Program California State Horsemen s Assoc. Page 9 Mail Rider Logs and TRAP registrations to: Marie Grisham 663 El Centro Rd. El Sobrante, CA Phone: cshatrap@yahoo.com TRAP Website: cshatrap.org Go to TRAP awards and milestones are now being posted on the TRAP Facebook page! Like our page and get the updates faster!