May 27th Leaderboard Update

May 27th Leaderboard Update.  Our 2 Teams in the number 1 & 2 spots left NE today and headed to CA to do a TEVIS educational ride.  We wish them safe travels and lots of fun and learning.  Lots of riding this Memorial Day weekend since it was really nice before and inbetween the rain.  Hard to believe the end of May is just around the corner.    Sure hope the weather in June is perfect for riding everywhere :-)

May 20th Leaderboard Update

This has been a very active month, there have been CTR's endurance rides, cattle drives, FBMD rides, birthday rides, wagon rides and just plain everyday fun rides.  So far for the month we have ridden collectively almost 3,000 miles and for the year to date over 15,000 miles.  Those ponies are earning their hay now (about time)!

As we all know the best way to view the world is between the ears of a horse :-)

May 13th Leaderboard Update

It was a beautiful weekend and I sure had to post alot of riding on the Leaderboard Spreadsheet.  Congrats to Team 14 Messick for being the 1st team to reach 600 miles already!!

FBMDR was a success!

Friday Before Mother's Day Ride......A wonderful ride that Tammy Vasa started many years ago was a wonderful success on Friday with about 60 riders and wonderful weather!  It started out a little cool but once the sun came out it was awesome.  The plum bushes smelled so wonderful and the green grass and blue sky made the day very colorful.

We rode from Valapraiso to Loma and back, all in all about 17 miles.  Loma was made famous as it was used in a movie staring Patrick Swayze back in the 90's.  Loma is the home to the Patrick Swayze movie, "To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar." on the side of the "hardware" building, you can still see the muriel that says "Welcome to Snyderville" which was the name of the fictional town.

After we had lunch in Loma we headed back to Valapraiso and had a wonderful pot luck meal together.  Thanks Tammy for a wonderful day full of great memories.

Hints

 

To those riding the Friday Before Mother’s Day Ride on Friday, here are some hits to finding a couple of the lucky horse shoes.  If you find one, claim at my trailer after the ride and tell me where (landmarks) you found it or take a picture of the coordinates on your GPS.

 

 

 

 

Good Luck!

Distance Derby Riders at the FBMDR

This coming Friday is the annual Friday Before Mother's Day Ride beginning at the trail head in Valparaiso, Nebraska and riding to Loma and back. This is the 13th year for the ride and the Big Fat Lying Weatherman has said there is only a slight chance for rain. Do we believe him?


A few things for you Distance Derby riders who plan to be at the ride. It is tradition that there be 10 horseshoes planted along the trail. If you find one (limit one per person please), claim it for a small prize after the ride.


This year, two of the horseshoes will not be in plain site. Why? Because I want them found by Derby riders. Late Thursday night, tune into this website and I will show you the coordinates via the GPS of where they are hidden. Go to that spot and find your horseshoe. To claim your prize, you have to tell me where you found it (landmarks, etc).


Secondly, I'd like to have a Distance Derby group picture in front of the church in Loma at around noon. Just meet in front and we will get as many of the riders who are there at the time. I know its impossible to coordinate everyone, but we'll give it our best shot.


For those of you who are not natives to the area or perhaps are but might not recall, Loma is the home to the Patrick Swayze movie, "To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar." on the side of the "hardware" building, you can still see the muriel that says "Welcome to Snyderville" which was the name of the fictional town. Snap a picture of it while its still there; it is fading fast. And a little Derby trivia: Tanya of Team 31 - Cinc, was an extra in that movie.


Everyone have a good week and hope to see you in Loma!


~Tammy

*** First Leaderboard of May ***

April showers bring May.....snow???? What was up with snow on May 1st!  Enough already!!!  Are we all wanting to ride so bad it hurts....I'm thinking yeah!!!
A big congrats to Team 14 - Messick for being the top team this week.

With Sympathy

 

This is Tammy jumping in here today.  I just wanted all of you to know that last year’s Distance Derby winner, Juanita (Team 41), lost her husband, Ray, this week.  He has been ill and she has been caring for him – giving us updates through Facebook. 

 

I have known Juanita and Ray for years but got to know them so much better during the Derby last year.  You may not know this, but probably a majority of the miles she racked up were on what she called her “racetrack” – a quarter mile strip outside their home going back and forth.  She never wanted to be far away from Ray.  He was well enough to make a couple trips with her last year.  I recall seeing pictures from their Missouri vacation as well as the Petersburg, Nebraska trail ride in August.  I know it made her happy when he was with her but I know Ray was equally happy when Juanita would ride.  “Ride your own ride,”  he told her.  And she did.  He accompanied her to the awards dinner this past January.

 

My sympathy to Juanita and her family at this time of their loss.  If you are so inclined, say a prayer for both of them.  Or you might want to reach out to her in the comments on her Derby Page. 

 

Juanita posted the following on Facebook this morning. 

 

 

 

Page County Conservation is located in southwest Iowa, bordered on the south by the state of Missouri and home to the Pierce Creek Recreation Area. Collectively, the Page CCB manages 8 parks, trails, recreation areas and wildlife areas encompassing some 1,479 acres across the county.  For additional information about the programs, services and facilities offered by the Page CCB, please utilize the following contact information:

Address to mail memorial:  Page County Conservation c/o Joyce Kruse, 1178 200th St, Shenandoah, Iowa,51601-4582.  Note “Iowa West Match” and in memory of Ray.

http://www.mycountyparks.com/county/Page.aspx

End of April Leaderboard

Here is the End of April Leaderboard.  This past weekend was the biggest weekend for riding of the entire month!  Wow ya'll kept me plugging in numbers to the spreadsheet like crazy :-)  Mine included.  So happy to see everyone riding since we are back to winter this week :-( .  Congrats to Team 14 and Team 22 for both getting over 500 miles in the first 4 months of the year.