ANNUAL SUMMER RIDE at ORCHARD COVE STABLES

Lea Valentine posted the pictures of the FoxTROT annual Summer ride held at Orchard Cove Stables, (Great Smokies) Townsend, TN. Unfortunately, we were not able to attend, but by these pictures, it was beautiful, as usual. Future BLOG posts about this adventure to come soon!

Click on below:

Lea's Pictures

Summer Riding!

Once again we're in the middle of a hot summer. Many are not able to ride because of the heat. Fortunately, those of us who live/ride in the mountains can start early and get into the elevation where it's pleasant. This is part of the reason for scheduling the FoxTROT Summer Trail Ride in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. At last check, Freda tells me that we have 31 horses registered with Orchard Cove. There has been a good response from MFT Trail Riders outside of Tennessee because of the MFTHBA National Trail Ride. We look forward to seeing all of you at Orchard Cove Stables, Townsend, TN, 21 - 25 July 2010.

As usual, Deb and I ride nearly every week end. If interested, you can check out recent updates to our personal blogspot, http://www.ridinghappytrails.blogspot.com/.

Happy Trails, Sam Gerhardt, President, FoxTROT

RIDING AT HIGH COUNTRY HORSE CAMP

My sister and I arrived at High Country Horse Camp Sunday evening and got our horses settled in.We met some of the fellow campers then drove to town, 25 miles away to eat dinner.

Monday morning two happy horses greeted us at breakfast time. They loved the large stalls at HCHC and Tango even laid down in the night.
We saddled and packed our lunches and cameras in our saddle bags and headed out up the road. We traveled an old county road for two or three miles then crossed the paved road again and entered the Mt. Rogers area. We were still traveling on the wide cinder road which was a constant climb since leaving camp when we came upon a network of tubing strung around trees. It looked like children had been there playing and left their "toys". As we continued on we came to another area of the same tubing and couldn't imagine what it was until we noticed a faded sign telling this was a Maple sugar water collection area. Having come from an area in Indiana where Maple trees were tapped and sugar water was drained into a bucket this tubing network leading to a large plastic tank was quite a labor saving system and quite interesting to me.

We continued another two miles or so and came into an open area which was Mt. Rogers, the highest point in Virginia. Here we found the Appalachian Trail, this section for hikers only and the VA Highlands Horse Trail. The plan for the day, because I had only been riding about a month and only short rides due to herniated discs and of course Tango who'd had a long vacation due to my health wasn't in top condition either.

Our plan was to take a short loop and return to camp early. On our short ride that took a total of 6 1/2 hours we experienced some beautiful scenery and even encountered a bear cub on the trail who quickly retreated to somewhere, probably a tree nearby. The trail we met him on opened to a small bald with wild cherry trees that had fruit on them and the bears had mutilated the small trees by trying to climb them to retrieve the fruit.

Many places we had to open gates, which normally wouldn't have been a problem on our handy fox trotters that do side pass and back but the gates weren't well designed to be opened from horseback. Still we managed to open about half of them without dismounting.
The riding is rugged and rocky but beautiful and I hope to return again when my fox trotter and I are both in better physical condition.

Kate Shaner
Jamestown, TN
www.mtnmajestyminiatureschnauzers.com

INSPIRATION!!

Among new members to FoxTROT and the MFTHBA are Bob and Betty, my wife's mom and dad. Dad, who will be 75 in August, rode as a young man but hadn't been on a horse in 25 - 30 years. Mom had NEVER had an interest in riding. Deb says she can't remember her mother even touching her horse. Well that's all changed now! Dad, who had triple bypass surgery last year, started talking last winter about wanting to ride again. So, on a warm day earlier this spring we invited him to ride with us. He rode the Big Creek Trail on one of our MFTs for about nine miles on a Saturday. Well, you know the MFT motto, "To ride one is to own one". By the next Saturday he had bought his own MFT (Surprise, from Terry Messex) and a new Tucker trail saddle! He's ridden with us many times since and has been to horse camp with us twice. It has all come back to him and he rides like a seasoned trail rider. He'll go wherever for however long you want to go! With Dad's renewed interest, Deb's mom started talking about wanting to learn to ride. So, she began to come ride in our arena for about thirty minutes a day for three weeks. She rides Rebel, Deb's MFT gelding, right now but Dad bought her a two year old quiet palomino MFT gelding, Trigger (also from Terry), who we're getting ready for her. She's been to horse camp with us and has ridden several times. Naturally, Mom likes to ride the easier trails for about two hours. She's doing wonderfully! I wanted to share this story to encourage each one to saddle up and hit the trails! If mom and dad can do it, so can you! Come ride with us and meet Bob and Betty! Happy Trails,

Sam Gerhardt

President, FoxTROT

FOXTROTTER AFFAIR

A full-page ad about the upcoming Foxtrotter Affair is featured in THE TRAIL RIDER, Special Edition June, 2010; page 33. This exciting event will be held at East Fork Stables, this September, as posted above. Looks like it will be very interesting, fun, and educational. Our FoxTrot member, Jaime Whiteaker is spear-heading this event.
Make your reservation NOW!
For additional info, call Jamie 941-416-3935 or got to: www.FoxtrotterAffair.com

Spring Trail Ride at Circle E

Our VP, Lea Valentine, put together a great slide show from the Spring Trail Ride which is posted below. If you haven't taken a look, be sure to do so. Although it has taken me too long to make this post, I wanted to write a few lines.

The ride at Circle E Guest Ranch was unique in several ways. First, we had members to join us who have not been able to camp at our previous rides! Jaime Whiteaker and her trainer, John, brought 3 MFTs. They experienced what I call, "horse biscuits and butterflies". The "horse biscuits" was that Jaime's truck broke down on the long pull up the mountain on the way to camp. We were able to get the horses onto another trailer while she waited for a tow to the local Ford dealership. The "butterflies" was that Jaime and John were able to ride all week and enjoyed their time on the trail and around camp. Of course, getting the truck repaired and back to her was "butterflies"as well! Samara Riggins was able to camp with us, as well. She brought her dog, her rescue TWH (yes, we let her ride with our MFTs) and stayed in her new trailer. New FoxTROT members, Bob and Betty Wills, My wife's parents, also joined us. They came with one MFT and went home with two! They bought a 2 year old palomino gelding from Terry Messex. As Roy Rogers fans, they call him "Trigger". Of course the usual suspects were present, Terry Messex, Lea Valentine, The Crossville Bunch (Roger and Rhonda Wyatt, Freddie Whittenberg), and Deb and I. The second thing unique to the Spring Trail Ride was that this was our first organized ride at Circle E Guest Ranch. Last year we had to cancel out of Circle E because of the rainy weather. We were concerned about too wet trails again this year with all of the rain Nashville received. Fortunately, Circle E missed the rain and the trails were over all in good shape. You can ride at just about any preference level you like at Circle E. They have a great camp with lots of space. There are pics on the slide show posted below. Thirdly, the TWHBEA held an Extreme Cowboy Competition on Saturday. It was fun to watch the competitors navigate the osbstacles in the arena as shown in the photo. A young lady who won the Craig Cameron Extreme Cowboy Race was a competitor on her TWH black stallion. I think she placed second. We all had a wonderful time. I hope that all this info encourages you to come ride with FoxTROT so that you do not miss out!

Happy Trails,

Sam Gerhardt
President, FoxTROT

SPRING RIDE/FUN AT CIRCLE E

Our V.P., Lea Valentine, sent a fun link to some pictures of the FoxTrotters having a good time at Circle E.
Click on the link below. This will take you to where the pictures will load (while it is loading, click on "Full Screen" mode in the upper right hand corner). There is a short animated introduction, and then the FoxTrot pictures will start going.
The pictures will keep repeating, so when you are through viewing, you can just hit your "back arrow" on your address bar, and it will bring you back here.
Enjoy!!!!

http://smilebox.com/playEmail/4d5459334e5441334d7a46384d7a63774e5451344e7a673d0d0a&sb=1