Behind The Barn The Official Newsletter of the Monterey Bay Equestrians March 2017 President - Liz Gheen 663-6544 mybailey2000@gmail.com Vice Pres. - Patti Garcia - 262-5068 pattihgarcia@gmail.com Secretary: Margaret Pare -- 659-8568 slugmp@gmail.com Treasurer Mike Pinto; 831-659-3315 carlmpinto@gmail.com Past President Sydney Blankenship 633-3810 sydrose_99@msn.com Sunshine: Sydney Blankenship 633-3810 sydrose_99@msn.com Fashionista: Caroline Spicher 624-3297 cspicher@sbcglobal.net Liz Gheen Presidents Message Wow, what a rainfall we have just had. Power outages and rain, rain, rain. Hope all is well with you and yours. The Board has been quite busy with our Ride Schedule. We ve made some changes in dates, so be sure and look it over in this newsletter and start planning your mini-vacations. Poker Ride is in the fine tuning stages. This year you need to register on line at our website: www.montereybayequestrians.org/ so go there and get registered. I just did it! So, even a non-tech person like me can do it...this year we have a new caterer, Mansmith s BBQ. Heard his cooking is quite good! By the way, January s door prize winner was Liz Riehl. February s was Merry-Lee Rae. Congrats ladies! Anyone other than the Board, who attends the ride meetings is eligible. See you on the trail...or at either of two meetings in March. Membership Chair: Sunday Minnich -- 408-858-9958 sundaym@verizon.net Club Web Site and Facebook Chair: Mike Pinto 831-659-3315 carlmpinto@gmail.com Poker Ride Chair: Patti Garcia 262-5068 pattihgarcia@gmail.com Newslettter Editor Lois Connell 335-2135 Loiscon@comcast.net The board is available to members for suggestions or concerns pertaining to club business to be discussed at the general meetings. You may contact us via Merry Lee Rae winner of the door prize Enjoy your hat! Editors Note I have been asked by our new board to be the news editor once again. First I would like to thank Jan Isasi for the excellent work she has done on the newsletter over the last few years. I will try to do as well. I am going to try to incorporate photos from our events and stories about our members, so if you have something to share please send it to me. I may not always use it right away but it s a great help. Hope to see you all through out the year. Lois Connell
Member Profile Connie Welch A big welcome to new member Connie Welch. Connie is no stranger to MBE. She has been helping her sister Margaret Pares with the prize corral for quite sometime, sorting through prizes and making the beautiful baskets. Now that she has retired she attends the Poker Ride and says it is a lot of fun. Connie s reason for joining MBE is she wanted to be able to join Margaret and her friends on the horse campouts. Margaret acquired Smokey, a great beginner horse from Nikkii Van Steenwycks, and now Connie has a horse to ride. Although she doesn t own Smokey she love him. Connie loves to trail ride and one of her favorite places is behind the Camel Valley Trail and Saddle Club. Her best rides ever were at Big Meadow last year. Although she loved the ride it was a little daunting for a beginner. Connie s hobbies are hiking, bike riding, gardening, baking, tennis and interior decoration. She enjoys working part time decluttering closets, garages, rooms and organizing small spaces. When you see her welcome Connie. You can t miss her. She looks like, sounds like and is just as funny and charismatic as her sister Margaret. RIDE REPORT Presidents Ride - Fort Ord Submitted by Sunday Minich It was a perfect day and ride at Fort Ord for the Presidents Ride and Potluck, hosted by our illustrious President Liz Gheen, Cathleen Sittag and Trail Boss Sunday Minnich. We started the morning with a continental breakfast with danishes, donuts, bagels, coffee and juices donated by Cathleen Sittag. We had about 12 trail riders who enjoyed a 2 hour loop before joining the rest of the group for the potluck. All horses were well behaved which was surprising considering most of the horses had been confined with the amount of rain prior to the ride. Some took advantage of the sandy arena to work their horses instead of the trail ride, which was a great alternative. Once we returned to the Marina Equestrian Center from our ride, we were greeted to a scrumptious amount of food and desserts during the potluck. About 25 people in total attended to enjoy the potluck and bon fire after the ride. Thank you to Cathleen for reserving the club room for our potluck and making arrangements for us at the Marina Equestrian Center and the wonderful continental breakfast. I think this was a great alternative to the beach and should be our permanent location for the Presidents Ride each year. We didn t have to contend with Wind, Waves and Woohoo rodeo rides!
Poker Ride Gifts Needed It s that time of year once again, our annual fund raiser Poker Ride at Lake San Antonio. Your help is needed to collect gifts for the Prize Corral and raffle. Horse related gifts are nice but not necessary. Please bring any donations you have to the next meeting or bring to the ride. Remember to bring two business cards from the donors so that we can recognize them properly. If you have any questions you may contact MARGARET PARE` @ 659-8568 or Slugmp@aol.com Meeting Schedule 2017 March 9 MBE meeting, Watsonville 7 pm March 30 MBE meeting, Watsonville 7 pm May 11 MBE meeting, Watsonville 7 pm June 8 MBE meeting, Prunedale 7 pm July 13 MBE meeting, Watsonville 7 pm Aug. 3 MBE meeting, Prunedale 7 pm Sept. 14 MBE meeting, Watsonville 7 pm Oct. 12 MBE meeting, Prunedale 7 pm Nov. 9 MBE meeting, Watsonville 7 pm Dec. 14 Ride Schedule Meeting, Prunedale 7pm (Please note that due to the meeting in April being scheduled durng the Poker Ride the meeting will be held March 30.) Goodies for Mar. 9th meeting: Laura Azzaro. Goodies for Mar. 30th: Margaret Pare. 2017 MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL. Betty at the Fireworks ride a few years back. Betty Whitcomb was admitted to Salinas Valley hospital on Dec 7th. While there, she was not assisted properly to the restroom, fell, broke hip, required surgery, and a long road to recovery. She was finally discharged to acute rehab, then another glitch came up. She's back in the hospital, but at Natividad this time. If anyone would like to send her Get Well, or Thinking of You cards, they really do help brighten her spirits.you can send them to her home address and Jim takes them to the hospital from there. Over 2 months in the hospital.her family have made sure she is never there alone over-night, but this means Jim has had quite a few days/nights in the hospital, too. It has not been an easy time. Prayers and positive thoughts for her to be home soon. Did you get your renewal paperwork in to Sunday Minnich. You can contact her at 408-858-9958 sundaym@verizon. net.reminder that after January 31, 2017, there is a $10. Late fee to cover cost of late entries into the Web and into the member address book. SUNSHINE REPORT Sunshine cards went to: Mike and Patti Garcia for loss of Mike's mom Jan Isasi thank you card for her work on the newsletter Shannen Bostwick for loss of 2 horses, Bids and Sunny If you know of a member who could use a little sunshine please let Sydney Blankenship, the sunshine lady know. 633-3810 sydrose_99@msn.com
MBE Meeting Minutes 2/9/2017 at Prunedale Library BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Liz, Patti, Mike, Margaret and Sydney Meeting called to order at 7:15PM WELCOMED NEW GUESTS: Not a new member but new to meetings Julie Jones who has 3 horses, 2 mustangs and 1 retired Police Horse a Quarter Horse. SEC. MINUTES: Cathleen S made motion to accept the minutes with changes. Seconded by Sunday M. Motion passed. TREASURER S REPORT: Mike handed out Treas. Report. Copy attached. Reconciled Balance as of 2/9/17 $21,869.23. Motion was made to accept T.R. by Patti G., seconded by Caroline Spicher. Motion passed. Mike and Liz went to Bank of America and got their signatures approved. COMMITTEE REPORTS: MEMBERSHIP - Sunday Minnich reports we have 79 renewed and new members. Deb Means made Sunday Administrator for MBE s Facebook Page. CORRESPONDENCE Received a donation request from Hidden Hills Ranch which is a non profit organization we helped last year with the mini horse Munchkin. They deal with mostly rescued animals. They have riding programs/summer camps etc. They were requesting a donation to help repair fencing. Sunday M. made motion to donate $500.00 to Hidden Hills Ranch. Seconded by Patti G. NEWSLETTER The new newsletter Editor is Lois Connell. A huge THANK YOU goes to our outgoing Newsletter Editor Jan Issasi for all the years she worked for MBE. Many thanks Jan! WEB SITE Mike spent a lot of time and extra work researching the problem with Google and our website. Problem resolved.mbe now comes up as the No. 1 site. SUNSHINE Sydney sent out a second card to Betty Whitcomb. Also a thank you card to Jan Issasi. FASHION Caroline S. Shirts/hats etc. have been ordered and will have them at the next meeting in March. RIDE CHAIR Patti G. informs us that the March ride at Nikki s is on private property and so is a members ONLY ride. An insurance certificate is required for this ride for landowners. The Porter Ranch Ride in Santa Margarita will be $25.00 per person/per night for catering food. And a one time fee of $25.00 per rig. We will call the P. Ranch when it gets closer to this ride in Oct. but she has us on the schedule. The De Anza ride this Saturday will be postponed until Feb. 25. Be sure to check the Ride Schedule for all the changes! The Back Country Horsemen San Joaquin Sierra Unit is looking for a donation to help pump toilets and remove manure from the Big Meadow Camp Site at Kings Canyon Sequoia National Park. Their volunteers take care of this camp site totally. Costs are $8,000.00 per year. It costs us nothing to camp there and so we should help with a donation. Motion made by Patti G. to donate $1,000.00 to Back Country Horsemen San Joaquin Sierra Unit for pumping and removal of manure at Kings Canyon Horse Camp. Seconded by Sunday M. Motion passed. TRAIL ADVOCATE No one present OLD BUSINESS: Concerning Poker Ride Caterers, Mansmiths will be catering the Poker Ride this year. NEW BUSINESS: Cathleen S. discussed problems with kitchen at Lake San Antonio. Oven needs repair as does the walk in fridge, plumbing repairs to sink etc. Also, broken wheelbarrows. She has contacted Luanne (volunteer that works at LSA). Patti G s Action Item is to get bids on the cost of all kitchen repairs. Merry Lee and Gary looking into making new Poker Hands signs. Sydney to ask Krista Koenig if she wanted to do a clinic for those interested. They are to pay their own camp fees and food etc. MBE will ask no percentage of their income from their clinic as a donation to our club. The Door Prize was won by Merry Lee! She won, guess what?!...a HAT!!! Don t tell Gary! Motion was made to adjourn the meeting by Caroline S. and seconded by Cathleen S. Meeting adjourned. Members helped fold Poker Ride flyers
Monterey Bay Equestrians 16th Annal Spring Poker Ride April 7,8,9, 2017 SOMETHING NEW!!! This year we will be handling our Registration ONLINE. Go to our website: MontereyBayEquestrians.org You will find Poker Ride Registration Forms & Information If you are unable to complete the forms online: CALL our Registrar: Mike Pinto 831-236-5974 for assistance with completing forms and payment. We are accepting Credit Cards and Electronic Checks Ride Information CAMP FEES FRIDAY CAMP FEE = $30.00 / Rig SATURDAY CAMP FEE = $30.00 / Rig Extra Vehicle @ Campsite = $15.00 / vehicle Day Fee Only - Non Campers @ $10.00 / vehicle Dog Fee = $2.00/dog Dogs must be leashed at all times & are not allowed on Trails or Dining Area Friday Night BBQ: $25.00/person Junior (under 10years old) $7.00 Smoked Chicken Breast Smoked Baby Back Ribs Pesto Pasta Grilled Vegetables Caesar Salad Garlic French Bread Dessert: Super Gooey Chocolate Brownies Coffee, Hot Chocolate, Iced Tea & Lemonade Saturday Breakfast: $17.00/person Junior (under 10years old) $7.00 Scrambled Eggs with and without Cheese Bacon & Sausage Pancakes Muffins Fresh Fruit Orange Juice, Coffee, Hot Chocolate, Tea & Milk Saturday Night BBQ: $25.00/person Junior (under 10years old) $7.00 BBQ Tri-Tip BBQ Chicken Garlic Roasted Red Potatoes Grilled Vegetables Green Salad Garlic French Bread Dessert: Berry Cheesecake Coffee, Hot Chocolate, Iced Tea & Lemonade Sunday Breakfast: $17.00/person Junior (under 10years old) $7.00 Scrambled Eggs with and without Cheese Bacon & Sausage Pancakes Muffins Fresh Fruit Orange Juice, Coffee, Hot Chocolate, Tea & Milk PRIZES FRIDAY RAFFLE: Tickets $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00 Raffle to follow immediately after Friday Dinner - Bring Tickets to Dinner SATURDAY Poker Hands: Tickets $5.00 each Poker Prizes Awarded immediately after Saturday Dinner- Bring Tickets to Dinner Late Entry Fee if registered after March 31, 2017@ $10.00/ person NO REFUNDS after the March 31, 2017 Deadline Ride held Rain or Shine
Ride Schedule 2017 Date Place Time Host March 11 Quinada Ranch, (Members Only) 11am Niikkii Van Steenwyck April 7-9 Poker Ride # 16 - Lake San Antonio Patti & Mike Garcia Sat April 22 Wilder Ranch 11am PJ???? Sat May 6 Henry Cowell 11am Lois Connell June 15-20 Skillman Horse Camp Diane & Mike Pinto June 30 - July 5 Jack Brook Syd Blankenship Sat July 15 Fort Ord @ Creekside 11am????? Aug 9-15 Big Meadow / Sequoia National Forest Patti & Mike Garcia Aug 31 - Sept 5 Wrights Lake Liz Gheen Sat Sept 16 Pebble Beach 11am Syd Blankenship Oct 5-9 Pt Reyes (Girls Only) Sunday Minnich Sat Oct 14?? Hollister or Garland?? 11am Sunday Minnich Oct 26-30 Porter Ranch 11am Patti & Mike Garcia Sat Nov 4 Huddard Park / Woodside 11am??? Nov 16-20 Lake San Antonio Patti & Mike Garcia Dec 2 Christmas Party???? This is the UPDATED Ride Schedule, changed at the February 9 meeting in Prunedale. SLY PARK was deleted, as we felt we needed more time to investigate it before planning a club ride there. SKILLMAN was inserted there because it was not open for the season the week we had planned. If you plan to go to SKILLMAN - June15-20, make your own reservation NOW so you will have the site you want. The Group Area is already reserved, but the other camps are fairly close together, kinda like Wrights Lake. Sites 1 and 7-16 are available for us (unless already reserved). ASAP go to the following website: http://www.goldcountrytrailscouncil.org/trail-maps--horse-camps.html for information on the camp. Scroll down to the Skillman section for info on the campsites, such as the size of rig that fits in that spot, maps of campsites and trails and how to make your reservation. Also, let Mike Pinto (831.236.5974) know if you plan to go and have registered.
Quinada Ranch March 11 11:00 am ride time Ride Host Nikkii Van Steenwyck nikkiilynn@gmail.com DIRECTIONS: from north of King City-take 101 South to the Jolon Rd exit and exit freeway. From the stop sign at exit it is exactly 7.5 miles to 56781 Jolon Rd. Driveway will be on the left side of the road and will be marked with a MBE sign attached to the mailbox. Will also put sign on road a little before driveway sign. Gate will be open and someone will be there to direct you to parking spots. Round pen available if you need to get your horses ya ya s out prior to riding. Terrain ranges from flat jeep road and climbs gradually up to take in the views. Some of the climbs are semi steep but not long. Water available on trail for horses. Dogs welcome but MUST BE ON LEASH AT ALL TIMES AND NOT ALLOWED ON TRAIL. RSVP Nikki At 415 599-9729 MONTEREY BAY EQUESTRIANS C/O Lois Connell 10602 West Drive Felton, CA 95018