Members of Burns Lake’s Tweedsmuir Cavaliers Saddle Club are hoping to boost interest in the club this year.
The club was established in 1967 and currently has 13 members.
Over the years the club has hosted a wealth of events including Canadian Equestrian Federation (now Equine Canada) sponsored shows, schooling shows, 4-H shows, Pony Club rallies, weekly riding lessons, summer horse camps, training sessions, competitive trail rides, poker rides, and even cowboy polo.
According to club member Kristi Rensby, a few of the club’s nine lifetime members have now retired due to individual circumstances.
“With the loss of these long time supporters, the current members decided to see if we could get some more interest going in the club if we made the grounds more user friendly and initiated some more programming,” she said.
Club members organized a work bee last week in a bid to tidy up the club’s Eagle Creek grounds and to see what other work needs to be done at the site.
“We would like to look at putting in some overnight facilities, such as some safe paddocks with shelters and the announcer’s booth has gotten really rundown, so it needs some repairs or possibly replacement,” Rensby said.
Last year, a very small group of Tweedsmuir Cavaliers Saddle Club members put on a poker ride and a gymkhana.
According to Rensby, the Junior Saddle Club is still active with two summer camps as well as weekly lessons.
“I believe these events are being planned again this year and there is talk of putting on a horse show in conjunction with the Lakes District Fall Fair and Music Festival in 2013,” she said.
Rensby explained that while there is a horse show being planned for the Lakes District Fall Fair and Music Festival this year, it is being organized by another saddle club.
“I think with more involvement, the club could once again provide more events and entertainment for the local horse people.”
Rensby said there has been a drop off in membership over the years. “I am not 100 per cent certain why, but I think volunteers just get tired and burn out and as they stop doing stuff with the club, the events stop getting offered, so then other people don’t see any reason to join again.”
Rensby also feels that the current facility has lacked stables and as such wasn’t always the best choice for holding larger events over a number of days.
“Another consideration is that a lot of people are very specialized in their riding disciplines such as reining, cutting, barrel racing and jumping and specialized equestrians often have to travel long distances to attend appropriate events, both for training and for competition. Although the club may not have a lot to offer those equestrians, they themselves may have a lot to offer the club such as mentoring beginners and sharing knowledge with the less experienced riders,” she said.
Club members would like to see it return to its former status as ‘the place to go’ for people in the Lakes District who love to ride horses.
“The Tweedsmuir Cavaliers Saddle Club has offered so much over the years and I think it can continue to do that for everyone, from the horse crazy teenager, to the mom who wants her small children to learn to ride, to the avid competitor and to everyone in between who just loves to ride.”
The Tweedsmuir Cavaliers Saddle Club has a nice facility, with a huge outdoor arena and a private setting, a small but dedicated group of enthusiastic horse people and a long history that Rensby said, would be a shame to let go to waste.
To find out more, or to join the club, call Brenda at 250-698-7720 or email her at sunchild40@gmail.com or call Bernice at 250-698-7615 or email gbhart@xplornet.com.