Well it’s been awhile since I’ve given the news. Riding season is here and I have been riding, but here goes with what I know.
Change of Date for Polly Ann Trail Event: Please note that the Polly Ann Trail Pony Express Ride has been changed from June 5 to June 12, primarily due to all the graduations on June 5. It’s a fun event and prizes are given for the best costume from the Pony Express era. Cathy Brakefield informed me that she has convinced the powers to be that there should be a parallel horse trail alongside the asphalt trail. Let’s support this trail. The food is great at the end of the ride also.
Addison Oaks—Grand Opening of equestrian trails on May 7, 2005: Thanks to all who helped spread the word on this event. We sort of thought we might have 30-50 riders, but 134 of you showed up and Oakland County Parks were very impressed. Rob Coffey, manager of Addison Oaks, was a gracious host and very happy to have all of us. Ranger Keith, who oversaw the work on the trails, got to ride them on a borrowed horse. He had a great time and got a good perspective of the trails. He knows where they need tweaking. The lunch crew from Addison Oaks served us up hot dogs and drinks with big smiles and great attitudes. If you attended and had a good time let Rob know and please go back. The park is now officially open and remember you need an Oakland County Parks sticker. You can buy it at Addison Oaks now. A special thank you to Libby Dwyer for doing the beautiful flyer announcing the ride, to Tracy Evans for her help and for providing a horse for Ranger Keith and to Patty for getting all the riders to sign in. I received a phone call from Dan Stencil congratulating us on the great turn out. He said, “If you build it they will come.†The weather was great and we made a great impression. See reference in Oakland Press, May 19, 2005. Let’s look forward to an equally successful opening of the Rose Oaks Equestrian Trails, hopefully in 2006.
Highland Trail Riders Quotation Ride—The Highland Trails Riders had their Sunday, May 15th Quotation Ride canceled by Park Manager Mr. Altoff, for lack of event insurance. Members of various groups met with the regional DNR person this past week and so far, they have no answers. This will be pursued farther and will be resolved. More on this to come. People did show up and had a nice ride in Highland Recreation Area anyway and then had hot dogs, etc.
Press Coverage—The Oakland Press has been giving more coverage to Oakland County Equestrians. There were a couple short articles and a picture from the Addison Oaks Ride and May 19th had quite an extensive article on various equestrian topics and some quotes from Dan Stencil of Oakland County Parks on other items in the works for equestrians. He mentioned connectors to the Polly Ann Trail and also through Bald Mountain to the Paint Creek Trail. We’ve got their ears finally and hopefully more good things will come.
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Highland Township Residents form Highland Equestrian Conservancy—The Highland Equestrian Conservancy had a very successful organization meeting in April. Their mission
includes preserving Highland’s equestrian heritage as well as green space and conservancy trails that will be open to equestrians. They were successful in attracting a variety of volunteers including business owners, developers and realtors. We wish them much success and if you can join and help preserve our equestrian heritage. You can visit their website at www.highlandequestrians.org.
Possible Headwaters Equestrian Event—Headwaters Trails, Inc. (Rose Township, Holly Township, Springfield Township, Groveland Township and the Village of Holly) is investigating a fundraiser equestrian event to raise money to be earmarked for equestrian friendly trails in the Headwater’s area. We have picked August 28, 2005 as the possible date. We are looking at having a ride in Rose Oaks under a special use permit and then riding scenic back roads to Springfield Oaks and then having a cookout. The proposal will go before the Oakland County Parks Commissioners in June and I will keep you posted as to their decision. If they ok it, I will be looking for lots of help. It is important that equestrians volunteer and support these events.
Future Holly Trail Riders: We will be getting together a group of northern Oakland County equestrians that are interested in trails in Holly Recreation Area. If you are interested and I didn’t get your name at the Groveland Township meeting last October, please send me an email indicating your interest and you will be notified of the meeting date and time. I was trying for April, but obviously failed. Sorry. We will try for sometime in June or July. Holly Recreation Area is not on the list for master planning in the next couple of years, but we need to get a proposal put together.
DNR Go Outside Day July 23, 2005: The DNR has announced a Go Outside Day for July 23, 2005. They would like all the groups active in a particular park to plan an event for that day, to call attention to the parks and the activities available. The only park I have information on is Pontiac Lake Recreation Area. We are planning a Horse Parade starting at 10 a.m. from the staging area and going down the road and through the modern campground. We will throw candy to the kids and each participant will get a hat. There will be a cookout to follow. We would like a hundred or more horses to show our support for our park and our DNR staff who are great. If anyone is interested in attending, call Susie at 248-887-3799 or Caryn at 248-505-4497. Hope to see a lot of your there.
Schoolcraft College Equine Program: As a member of the Advisory Committee, I will keep you posted on what they are doing. They are currently looking for instructors for the following classes: The Mechanics of Bits and Bitting and Hoof Care. If you know of possible instructors, please send the names to me or call Sheri Zylka at Schoolcraft, 734-462-4400.
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Two business items to get feedback on are
1. I have had inquiries about classifieds on our website. It would be a way of raising
money to pay for our website. I am still working off of donations given by the sponsors listed on the sponsor page last year. Any ideas pro or con would be appreciated. We are loose knit, but we all have a voice. I thought maybe $25/month might be a reasonable cost for advertising. We have room on the website. However, this would necessitate having a treasurer to keep track of the money.
2. The other item of business has to do with an expense of redoing our power point/
over head presentation to tailor it to township boards and planning commissions. We gave the presentation to Brandon Township’s Planning Commission on April 26. The cost for overheads was $39.80. I have money from the website donations and need to know if everyone is ok with me spending this money on the transparencies.
Please let me know how you feel.
Have great rides on our beautiful trails and don’t forget to check the website for updates.
Hope to see you on the trails.
Merle Richmond
Coordinator, Oakland Equestrian Coalition