October through May meetings will be held the first Thursday of the month at 7:00 PM (no meeting in December).  All meetings will be held at Harris Bank Community Room 34525 N Scottsdale Rd.

The Christmas ride took us through some awesome terrain with lake and mountain views. Following the ride we all had a nice lunch at the old Saguaro Lake Ranch and were musically entertained by both Jack’s piano playing and Greg’s guitar. As usual, the gift exchange was lively with several gifts changing hands many times before they were frozen. Thanks to all who joined us for our Holiday gathering.

The following weekend, several club members attended the team sorting clinic out in Rio Verde. This is a beautiful location and we thank Sue, who arranged for this event to take place. We hope we can do it again in the near future. The very next day, Helen Bell led us on meandering route down to Camp Creek Falls (see ride report).

We would love to see more of you at our monthly meetings. We have scheduled some very well known and interesting speakers for our upcoming meetings. At our January 6th meeting, you can hear Sue Davis talk about massage for horses.  Sue has been a equine massage therapist and practitioner for the past 20 years. Sue frequently travels throughout the country, applying her skills to Grand Prix and Olympic horses and show, trail and therapy horses. On February 3rd we will have a return visit from the Tack Etcetera ladies for the requested 'next step' in saddle fitting.

The equine fun continues in January starting with a Mary Sutherland clinic on the 9^th. The clinic will begin by developing a "mutual" respectful partnership on the ground.  From there, Mary will cover some common challenges we all face like trailer loading, standing still while we mount and how to deal with the barn sour horse. The day will be full of fun challenges and obstacles designed to help us develop better partnerships and attitudes with our equine partners! Please consider attending the clinic either as an auditor or participant.

There are also two rides scheduled for the month of January. The Emery Henderson ride is scheduled for Jan 16^th and the Black Canyon ride is on the 30^th of the month. See our “Upcoming Rides” section for details. 

I'm happy to report that so far this ride year we have 19 new members.   Take a minute on the trail to introduce yourself and make these folks feel welcome.

A special thank you goes out to Sandy Luedke for her work on the Newsletter, Helen Bell for making sure the snail mail copies are on the way and Sue Van Meerten for her exceptional job as trails coordinator. The other officers and volunteers also deserve accolades: Jean Anderson - Secretary, Charly Filipek who just stepped up to be Treasurer, and Donna Russ - Vice President.  We could never forget Andy Lunk, our webmaster.   Thanks to all of you for your part in making this club the wonderful place it is.

Camp Creek Ride:  Sixteen riders started off on a cloudy and cool morning from the parking lot just past Blue Wash. We had a little excitement at the only step-over from two horses that had done it many times. They entertained us all with their surprising refusal. I suspect they plotted this well in advance in the trailer on the haul over. With much urging and redirection, they finally gave up their game and didn’t bother to play it again on the way out.

Several riders were enjoying their first ride to the falls. We all took pleasure in pointing out the unexpected change in plant materials in some of the ride areas such as scrub oak and desert holly. The only other challenge on the ride was a group of target shooters on the other side of some low hills. All of our horses made it through the area just fine except for one horse taking a quick dip in the sand wash.

There were still fall colors to be enjoyed as we got closer to the falls where there are still some cottonwood and sycamore trees. While the falls are not large, any time you are able to ride to water in the desert it is a special treat. After we all took turns enjoying the waterfall, we tied up the horses and took a break for snacks and to stretch our legs. After the break, the clouds opened up to blue skies and we had perfect weather on the shorter ride back to the trailers.