April 2002 County Line
March was our Annual Awards Night, with potluck meal to start off the night. We always have a good time at this meeting. And members, even if they don't want to, have to relive some moments that happened to them during last years’ riding season.
To
start, at the meeting we had several new members that joined and they picked the
right night. Dan Laughlin, Manager of our local Wal-Mart, reported on the
upcoming Children's Miracle Network Ride which is scheduled for April 27th at
Salt Fork. Registration starts at
9:00 am, donations of at least $35.00 or more, is needed when registering. That
is always a fun day.
Our
first ever Spaghetti Dinner that was held Feb 16 was a huge success. Thanks to
the planning committee and the members that turned out to help at the dinner, we
raised $1578.00. Plaques were given out to the members of the committee for
their hard work. Thank you Bill they were beautiful.
Workdays
were scheduled for March 9th and March 16th at Zaleski to clean trails. March
23-24 work weekend at Hocking Hills to change a trail at repelling area.
The
meeting was turned over to Rita Schultheis after the business for presenting
awards and they are as follows:
Top
Trail mileage Adults
1st place Dana McAtee with 2007 miles
2nd place Darrell McKay with 1680 miles
3rd Patty Matthews with 1561 miles
State
Parks & Forests
1st place Rodney Patterson with 770 miles
2nd place Caroline Patterson with 726 miles
3rd place Connie Matthews with 601 miles
Top
Trail Youth
1st place Leigh Ann Patterson with 1044 miles
2nd place Zach Huffman with 860 miles
3rd place David Blankenship with 368 miles
Other
Youth Miles
Kyle Bichard with 87 miles
Tara Bichard with 5 miles
Youngest
rider of the year
Holly McCoy at 6 months, rode 60 miles w/mom
Now
for the moments of last year some of us (including me) would just as soon
forget. The first group was the Annual New Members of the AAAAIIIIEEEEEEEE also
know as "Airbourne Equitation International. The following were so
impressed with last year’s member’s accounts of this hard riding, dirt
grabbing group that they just had to try and pass the test for themselves this
year to become full fledged members of this dedicated team. Caroline Patterson
who was so thrilled to join this elite group last year that she thought it was a
must to retest every year to stay a member. This being the case she took a
nosedive over Rocky's head into the sloppy mud creek bank at Salt Fork, while
crossing the creek, landing front first in the mud!
Leigh Ann Patterson wanted to join this elite group so badly she tried to
pass her test twice and almost a third time with her horse’s help. Attitude
happened to hook her front hoof in her hackamore and started to hop around like
a crazed jack rabbit, Leigh Ann jumped off to see the problem which disqualified
herself. So she tried again twice more, both of which she would have qualified
for passing the test. First she went over head first and landed on her head as
she inspected the trail for debris and to prove helmets really do save lives!
Her most noted fall was selected when she proved it was as easy as falling off a
log rather than, stepping over a log and falling off her horse. She set such a
good example that Lee Ann Piggott decided to try the same test of falling off
twice in one year so she too was allowed entry to this elite group when her
beloved Charlie stepped over a log and fell with her. We the judges decided to
award both her and her steed Charlie. To prevent future slipping and falls we
are awarding Charlie a set of four non slip booties. These were not the only
members to feel the need to fall multiple times to pass the test. Our own
secretary Barbara Hoover could no resist the chance to show her grit while
riding Bill's horse Jim Dandy at Cook Forest. Horse and Barb went over backward.
One word of advice Barb, "That riding helmets may help when looking at
ferns along he trail and you ride into a tree head first, but isn't much help
when your horse lands on your head. Next time for both your safety's sake you
may want to get the horse a riding helmet as well. Not to be denied her own
chance to take a double fall and join this group was Joanne Cunningham. She had
to out do all the afore mentioned new AAEEEEIIIII members by not only falling
twice in one ride, but also doing it with such flare as to be awarded the newly
acclaimed "Roller Derby " Award. While riding with the group at Salt
Fork she took a rolling dive over the infamous "Schultheis Swan Dive"
trail and showed the whole group how a true swan dive should be performed with a
full triple roll plus, off the back of Jay C. rolling down the side of a ravine
and never lost her hat! And as if that one fall wasn't enough she followed it up
with an immediate second fall as she tried to remount and Jay C took off before
she was fully seated she was again on the ground, checking for mole holes. Not
quite making the Airbourne Equitation International this year are a few members
who tried, but just didn't have the right ingredients to qualify for this group.
First Chicken Puge and Bill Hoover attempted to join by falling out of their
hammocks last summer. Also Rodney Patterson attempted to join by falling through
and out of his camp chair when it collapsed with him at the Children's Miracle
Network Ride. He also got a little closer when his horse’s saddle slipped
sideways. However, he claimed he didn't fall but baled off real close the
ground, so by his words failed to qualify.
Other
awards given were one to Bob Schwendeman. During a ride at Dorothy's he lost his
wallet and to retrace the ride to find it. Luckily he did with everything still
in it. He was awarded the "Lucky Dog" award for being lucky enough to
not only find the wallet bur nothing was missing. He was given a colorful
billfold with a generous amount of "FAKE" spending money and a bungee
cord to prevent any future loses.
Next
Lost and Found award went to Connie Matthews and Karen Szabo for loosing their
horses and fortunately finding them. Connie lost her horse Raz while attempting
to load her and Karen lost her horse twice during a ride at Zaleski. Once at
lunch, she slipped her halter and just walked away and at camp during the night,
both times she decided to come back, so she was awarded the "Boomer
Rang" award.
A group of our members earned the "Wet and Wild Bunch award, they braved
the weather to make a trip South and met cold wet weather almost the entire
trip. Bob and LeeAnn Piggot earned the "Worst Lunch Location Award"
for deciding to lunch IN the outhouse at Airplane Rock rather then braving the
pouring down rain, even denying a couple of fellow riders the necessary use of
it while they were there.
It was also reported that there was a gross miscarriage of Justice while camping
at Cook Forest. Dorothy Pugh was wrongfully accused of bird knapping two pink
flamingos from a neighboring camper’s yard. They held their own Kangaroo court
and found her guilty of said charges. However, we the committee have been
informed that Dorothy is innocent of all charges and was framed to take the
fall. Having held our own court we decided to convict Lee Ann Piggot as the
guilty party and award Dorothy with a coupon good for legal services and a
custom made frame, with your very own flamingo feathers. Lee Ann was given a
strong reminder that any framing job should be done by the professionals such as
Rita Schultheis whose motto is “I frame anything!” She also was awarded her
own pink flamingo so she won't be tempted to bird nap again.
Bill Hoover was given the "Cruelty beyond words award" for his slip of
the tongue when announcing that there would be a "live hog roast" at
the state ride. Bill got a cute little piggy key chain as well as a petition
from several famous pigs entreating him to become a vegetarian.
Larry Matthews was awarded the "Snake Rattle and roll along award".
Larry and his horse Jack came upon a potential rattle snake curled up on the
trail. When he noticed the snake, he stiffened up in the saddle, raising his
reins and his horse stepped into a higher gear causing Larry to rock dangerously
back in the saddle while turning rather pale in the face.
Patty Matthews got the "Blooming scare me why not" award for her successful effort to scare Connie while gathering water lilies at Shawnee. Connie dropped Patty off to get the lilies while she parked the truck and heard Patty scream. Knowing Patty can't swim she ran to see what happened and found Patty standing waste deep in the lake laughing like crazy, surrounded by water lilies. For her award Karen Szabo modeled the appropriate attire for collecting water lilies. She wore hip waders, had a floaty around her waist and a fishing pole to get the lilies with.
Connie and her horse got into bees and was doing quite a dance so we arranged for Connie to borrow Karen Szabo's yellow jacket look a like slicker to use for the next year, as well as several bees of her own to use around camp.
Rodney Patterson became so attached to a certain "Good Ole Stick" he was using to poke around the camp fire so Bob and Lee Ann Piggott decided to save this good ole stick and put a handle on it and varnished it so Rodney can keep all the local camp fires going this year.
Our last award was for Dave Matthews for reaching the 10,000-mile mark and was given a t-shirt that matches the one given to Patty Matthews a couple years back.
The
awards meeting was concluded with a slide show entitled "American On
Horseback" It took us from the beginning of the horse and went thru how the
horse has become an important part of our lives. Our awards meetings are usually
very entertaining with all the silliness that happens to members during the
riding season.