 President's Message -
Summer, 2009
What a summer it’s been so
far… From our new clinics we added this
year to our ever-popular Western Riding Clinic to another SOLD OUT year
for our annual Jack Brook Horse Camp! And we have more exciting events coming in the next couple months.
I am working on this
President’s Message as I sit in the shade of the trees around the campsite at
Jack Brook Horse Camp. A little bit of
heaven right in our own backyard. If you
have never been to Jack Brook, you are REALLY missing out on a wonderful
experience with your horse. There must
be a hundred miles of trails through the surrounding hills. You can ride to the bottom of the canyon and
enjoy a picnic by the side of the river. You can follow Art Lesser on a trail ride and be lost for over 5
hours! Ask Art about this… Due to some surgery on my leg, I couldn’t
ride this year. That did not diminish
how fully I enjoyed every minute in this piece of paradise. My horse, Slick, enjoyed taking
Cheryl
Basin
and Anne Whitten on
their outings through the woods. Vice
President, Nancy Kouchekey, did an outstanding job of organizing our
Jack Brook weekend again this year. For
the third year in arow, we enjoyed delicious meals catered by SMCHA’s favorite
camp chef, Tim Stewart. Saturday
evening found us listening to the beautiful music of
Mixed Signals as we sat around the roaring campfire. Larry Rebarchik awed fellow campers
with his remarkable ability to roast a marshmallow to toasted perfection! The weekend was SOLD OUT for an unprecedented
second year in a row. Make your plans
now for 2010. Don’t miss this wonderful
weekend. Magical memories to be made…
August is filled with our
horse shows. First is the English
Schooling Show - which will have happened by the time you read this. And on August 23 is our
Open English/Western Show at The Horse Park. This is a wonderful event that brings
participants from far and wide. We have
2 judges overseeing events in 2 different arenas simultaneously. We have the wildly popular Ranch Class and
the Reining Class.
Cheryl
Basin
& Noel Moody, along with their cracker-jack team of volunteers, work
very hard to put on a class event. Plan
on either entering this horse show or at the very least, come out and enjoy the
day watching some fine horsemanship in action in this grand venue.
The NOT TO BE MISSED EVENT of
2009 will be our Square Dance & BBQ fundraising event on
Saturday, September 12th. Adolph Rosekrans has graciously offered
Runnymede Farms to be the special location. We will enjoy a delicious Southern
barbeque by T’s Catering. There will be
a professional square dance caller to walk us through the square dance
steps. Then we will turn it loose and
just have some down home fun! There will be a silent auction – we already have
some fabulous prizes donated. There will
also be a raffle. So everyone has a
chance to go home a winner! This will be a delightful event for the entire
family.
If you have any ideas for
prizes – or are willing to donate a desirable prize for either the silent
auction or the raffle, please contact me. It will go toward raising money to support our various horse shows,
educational clinics and protecting and maintaining our precious trails.
Mark your calendars!
Call or email me NOW to make
your reservations
(650/224-5558 or Barbara@BarbaraStogner.com)
Over the past few months we
have had many new horse lovers join the SMCHA family. It is always wonderful when new members
join. Not only does it bring us new
friends to be made but it also supports our efforts to preserve & protect
our precious trails. Unfortunately,
since our last issue we have lost at least 2 of the local trails in our
area. These are losses that we may never
regain. One trail in particular is one
that I ride – well, used to ride – quite frequently. It is familiarly known as the Eucalyptus
Trail – that runs between Olive Hill and
Manuela Road
. The private property owners had complaints
such as – trespassers walking their dogs, running, going off trail onto
various parts of the property and disregard for their privacy. After I sent out the announcement about this
trail closure, I received many emails from riders blaming the hikers for losing
this trail for us. And perhaps a lot of
people felt this same way. I need to
point out another complaint of the property owner -- that the gates were
being left unlocked. This
irresponsible action could only have been by an equestrian trail user with a
Woodside Trail Club key. I may not have
any influence over the trespassing hikers and runners – I do encourage all riders to speak up
to any trespassers you may run into while riding on our trails. Also speak up to those who are breaking the
rules of a trail – example: bicycle
riders or dog walkers on the Sand Trail (along Hwy 280 between Runnymede &
Edgewood Road). Given I have the ear of
our SMCHA membership. I just want to
remind all members to be sure to respect the trails that we enjoy so much. Whether they are park
trails, private trails or public trails. Be sure to follow the simple rules of staying on the designated trails,
locking the gates behind you and respecting privacy. It only takes a few irresponsible riders to
destroy the future enjoyment for all trail riders. Be a vigilant protector of our trails
whenever you are riding!
Another riding privilege that
is being threatened is our ability to ride our horses freely on the beach at
Half Moon Bay. At this time, we can ride
our horses without restriction on the stretch of beach between Poplar Avenue
& Kelly Avenue. I attended a Half
Moon Bay City Council meeting on July 21st where the council members were addressing a proposal to restrict horses on the
beach in this stretch of beach. There
were numerous options suggested. One of
which is to restrict the horses to within 15 feet of the bluff. That would only let us ride in the deep sand
and eliminate riding along the water’s edge. My concern with this option is the potential of straining horses’ legs
in the deep sand. Another option is to
ban horses on the beach on weekends. There was a respectable turnout of equestrians. Fortunately the issue was tabled until the
next City Council meeting. The City
Council members will engage in dialogue with a few equestrian groups to further
investigate workable possibilities. My
feeling was that the Council members were in favor of restrictions of some
sort. When the subject is back on the
agenda, it will be important to turn out in force to represent the equestrian
viewpoint! I hope we can count on YOU!
These issues continue to
confirm to me the importance of having a strong, dynamic organization committed
to expanding & improving equestrian events and protecting equestrian
concerns. Now is the time to stay on
track in having SMCHA grow to become 1000-members strong. Take the time
and make the effort to invite someone you know to join SMCHA. We need our voice to be heard. Together we can insure that we continue to
enjoy our horses here in
San
Mateo
County
now and for generations to come!
Happy Trails,
Barbara Stogner
President 2009
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