16/ OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2011 THE RIDER
2011 Ontario Trail Riders Association Board of Directors President
Janice Clegg
Everett, ON L0M 1J0 Home: 705-434-0816 Cell: 519-940-1445, Work: 800-360-5821,
Email:
pineriverranch@gmail.com OTRA: Box 3038, Elmvale, ON L0L 1P0 •
www.otra.ca
The Ontario Trail Riders Association Inc, established in 1970, is an equestrian organization which promotes recreational trail riding and the creation, development, preservation and safe use of trails.
OTRA and its members represent the equestrian trail user with the Ontario Trails Council, Ontario Equestrian Federation and Equine Canada. We welcome your membership to help sup- port the voice of OTRA on your behalf. For more information please visit our website at
www.otra.ca
Mattawa Horse Campground Update Bear Branch Horse Resort
Submitted for the Rider September 20, 2011
Alek and I have recently returned from a visit to Bear Branch Horse Resort in Eddyville, IL. It took about 16 hrs to get there with a break to walk and water the horses and dog. However, we all arrived no worse for wear.
At our OTRA ride in August in the Crown Lands north of Mattawa OTRA members saw several changes this year. An entrance way and sign is almost complete showing the turn off Hwy.533. Also a quaint log outhouse has been constructed and we have it on good authority it is immovable, sliverless, and has a light. Construc-
Interested in hosting a ride in 2012?
kkrkelly@xplornet.com or call 705-322-6338 by November 30, 2011. You will be sent a Ride Information Package to complete and return.
Please contact Kari Kelly at
tion of a large building is well underway too. It will be available for barbeques and dinners for all events, rides and rallies held in the VMUTS trail system. After 2 rainy years single horse trails were really getting overgrown, so we need more riders to frequent the trails. The rid- ing season is short in Mat- tawa for we southern sissies who don’t like black flies, but as usual the trails are always sandy and dry compared to some riding areas where rainy condi- tions have made horseback riders avoid them for this year.
Why not plan a week’s holidays next year around the VMUTS Horse Camp- ground north of Mattawa.
Marjory Morden
This campsite lies within the borders of the Shawnee Forest, which is about 280,000 acres. It is a deciduous forest with many awesome rock formations, caves, water crossings and waterfalls – at least one of which you can go behind (Peter’s Cave). Unfortunately, because of the very hot and dry weather most of the streams and waterfalls had dried up, but the scenery was no less spectacular. The trails were the most challeng- ing we have been on to date, with steep hills to go up and down and rocky terrain to negoti- ate. You absolutely need a full set of shoes for this area. But once again Scout and Joker were totally awesome and were not fazed by even the most daunting climbs. Climbing up I can handle, but coming down is a different mat- ter particularly when we
came down from Hart’s Bluff, which was the steepest climb Scout and I had ever done. But despite some time for Scout to think about exactly where she should place her feet on the largest rock on the way down, we made it safely without incident. I should point out that our guide (who very kindly invited us to join him on that day) stayed at the bottom of the Bluff while the rest of us went up – and I can now see why (and he was on a mule !)
Initially, the weather was incredibly hot – in the 100’s – so we didn’t ride for 3 days (just as well as we were busy finding a blacksmith, and it’s not easy to find size 12 shoes in ‘small horse’ country!). The riding was wonderful, with 3 trails from camp leading directly into the forest. However we did go by car to see the Garden of the Gods rock forma- tions which was just a bit too far to ride to from where we were (12 hrs).
All of the people we met at Bear Branch were very helpful and friendly, and we really couldn’t have asked for a nicer bunch of folks. The campground was well kept, with all the usual stuff Canadians have come to expect from US camp- grounds. Plus there was a restaurant open at weekends which serves the greatest catfish I’ve ever tasted (better even than the eatery on the water in Elizabethtown that was sup- posed to serve the best!).
If you are interested in checking it out, here’s the web- site:
www.bearbranch.com
1st Vice President / Booth/ Marjory Morden Proton Station, ON email:
ochrerider@live.ca
Secretary/ Ride Schedule Kari Kelly
Elmvale, ON L0L 1P0 (705) 322-6338,
Email:
kkrkelly@xplorenet.com
Fundraising/ Special Projects Morris Radomskey Everett, ON L0M 1J0 Email:
morris@sprayhts.com
Administration Shirley Bodnarchuk Elmvale, ON L0L 1P0 Email:
shirley@auracom.com
Treasurer Jan Belanger
Elmvale, ON L0L 1P0 Home: 705-322-2027 Email:
janbel@csolve.net
Membership/ Web Site/ Education Wendy Downer Elmvale, ON L0L 1P0 Home: 705-322-0287 Email:
wnewdawn@xplornet.com
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