Marge and Vern sent me a note to post to thank all the volunteers at the Californios 65/100 mile ride. There were 40+ volunteers that made this ride the success it was. It is interesting to note that there were almost as many volunteers as there were riders (45). I am glad that Marge decided to thank everyone individually because sometimes we forget how much help is necessary to make events like this happen. Many of the volunteers Marge thanks on the list are endurance riders but there are several others that do not participate in our sport and are not even horse people. I recognize the names of many volunteers that help out at the Leona Divide 50 mile Trail Run (which is held in April and is on much of the same trail as Californios). Their sport is trail running not horses. It's pretty incredible that they would spend hours in the heat supporting a sport that they don't even participate in.
I also think it is great that every pull was a RO and that all the riders took care of the horses on a difficult trail in hot weather. No horses required treatment. Sometimes we focus so much on the negitives that happen at rides that we forget to mention when riders do a good job and do their horses right. There haven't been many ride reports on Californios and if I get a chance I will write a short one up. But I will mention here that my ride was made a lot easier because ride management marked the trail so well and had enough water and hay along the trail that I didn't have to worry about getting lost or keeping my horse hydrated in the warm weather.
From Marge & Vern Biehl - Ride Manager of the Californios 65/100:
vern and i would like to thank all the people that helped make our ride a success, we couldn't of done it with out them.
jeff olesh, co-ride manager, trail pruner, marked half of the trail, water hauler,and globars fred beahm, hauled water, drag rider, and kept repairing our car everytime it broke down. colleen carlton and john o'connor-pulse takers v.c.2 & 3 pippa and jeremy davies- in/out time keepers 2nd & 4th v.c. tim hall- pulse taker v.c.2,3,4,5 ed spitzer- delivered rider bags and suppplies to the vet checks gabrielle harris-prepared and delivered food to ride help and riders v.c.2,3,4,5 donna & george sauerland- pulse/vet secretary v.c.2,3 suellen & dick hall-in/out time keeper/weight in for 65 v.c.4 paul frisby- horse hauler jim mathews- water hauler barbara thomas-finish line for 65 paul schatz-water hauler/number taker pam & frank pascoe- in/out time keepers v.c.3 tom & sherri tuck-water aid station/number takers at end of pct mary jo steele & melinda jensen- crossing guards and drag riders glenda kimmerly and dennis traficante-last vet check in/out time keepers and soup for riders cindy bruce-time keeper at 1st v.c. rode out and put out globars on last 5 miles of trail, and cooked breakfast sunday am. jim bilof- trouble shooter/go-for tony whitmore and lori ansel-in/out time keepers at 5th v.c. sherri briscoe-she does everything v.c.5 gayle roth-last minute copies of maps, crew directions, etc. brian fitzpatrick-stand-by shoer v.c.2,3,4 betty williams & wayne-finish line for 100 mike core- horse hauler richard fuess-horse hauler jeff wall-drag rider dan mccluskey-drag rider dave ciscel-drage rider anne waterhouse-dog sitter
we also want to thank all of you riders for doing such a great job of taking care of your horses, it was an extremely hot day, and none of the horses got into trouble. all of the pulls were rider option, and no horses had to be treated. and last but not least our vets, head vet dr fred beasom, hugh hewitt, and elysa braunstein did a great job. thank you marge and vern biehl
