President’s Letter
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year. I hope you are all safe and healthy. In normal times we would be looking forward to our annual holiday party and the pizza and planning party to do our calendar but not this year. At this point we are doing the best we can just having a trail ride every month. If anyone has any ideas of a place you would like to ride as a group, please let us know. Meanwhile, we are trying to keep it fairly local and mostly doing what we did last year.
Membership renewals—wow—back in March we said “this will be your last newsletter if you have not renewed.” And then the world came to a screeching halt. So . . . we did not drop anyone from the list in 2020 and you have continued to get emails, but now it’s 2021, so please renew and support our club. A 2021 membership form is included in this newsletter and always available on our website. Our awesome membership secretary, Alyce, says please write clearly—especially your email address, since that is how we comminicate with you and we hate it when they get bounced back. Thank you to everyone who has renewed.
And welcome to new members!
Recent Activities The annual Sue Davenport Memorial Chili Ride was held November 8 at Chatfield Hollow. Eleven riders in two groups rode out from the cul de sac at North Chestnut Hill, down Abner Lane to Beckwith, through the state forest and back through the park. Our official “stalker”, equine photographer Judy Bosco, met us in the park and took pictures near the covered bridge. After the ride we enjoyed a socially distanced lunch with three kinds of chili, cornbread, side dishes, and desserts. We were joined by several non riding members.
Our Christmas Soup Ride had to be postponed from December 5 due to heavy rain but we were able to hold it on Sunday, the 13th. Only five riders braved the mud to ride but several other members joined us after for—again socially distanced—soup, breads, and desserts on the Rough Draft Farm porch. The soups were all delicious but Nancy’s cream of mushroom was the best I’ve ever tasted. It was a nice warm day and several of our injured members were able to make it for a visit. Beverly Torell and Cathy Clouse were able to compare their recent comparing rotator cuff surgery experiences. And Hannah is healing. See pictures pages 6 and 7 of the newsletter. Rain was predicted for New Year’s Day (even though it didn’t materialize) so we moved the Annual Freeze Your Butt Ride to Sunday the 3rd. The weather was still pretty iffy and several who had RSVPd ended up bailing. Five diehards rode despite the sleet and wind. My cheeks were more frozen than my butt, even Liz didn’t take many pictures. our hands were too cold to take off our gloves! Sarah Grote met Liz to take some “alumni” pictures of her and Clover to highlight their successful adoption story for the Connecticut Draft Horse Rescue. Liz’s husband made lobster salad sandwiches and we had hot chocolate and cookies after the ride. See pictures page 8.
Please see the Upcoming Events box on the first page and the Calendar on the last page for more activities. We always need ideas for the calendar—this year more than ever! Any ride ideas you would have brought to the Pizza and Planning Meeting are extremely welcome. And if you want to share the calendars from other local horse groups we will try not to schedule on conflicting dates. I really want everyone to be safe but I hope we can resume more normal activities soon. I miss Games Day and our social events so much! I really miss hugging my friends!
I hope to see you soon!
Melissa
PS LCRVHC membership is really a bargain at only $15 annually for individual, $25 for family. If you have friends you ride with or know people who are interested in trail riding with small groups or working on local trails, spread the word. And please, I can’t say it often enough, tell us what you want to do as a club!
(Read the full newsletter here)
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year. I hope you are all safe and healthy. In normal times we would be looking forward to our annual holiday party and the pizza and planning party to do our calendar but not this year. At this point we are doing the best we can just having a trail ride every month. If anyone has any ideas of a place you would like to ride as a group, please let us know. Meanwhile, we are trying to keep it fairly local and mostly doing what we did last year.
Membership renewals—wow—back in March we said “this will be your last newsletter if you have not renewed.” And then the world came to a screeching halt. So . . . we did not drop anyone from the list in 2020 and you have continued to get emails, but now it’s 2021, so please renew and support our club. A 2021 membership form is included in this newsletter and always available on our website. Our awesome membership secretary, Alyce, says please write clearly—especially your email address, since that is how we comminicate with you and we hate it when they get bounced back. Thank you to everyone who has renewed.
And welcome to new members!
Recent Activities The annual Sue Davenport Memorial Chili Ride was held November 8 at Chatfield Hollow. Eleven riders in two groups rode out from the cul de sac at North Chestnut Hill, down Abner Lane to Beckwith, through the state forest and back through the park. Our official “stalker”, equine photographer Judy Bosco, met us in the park and took pictures near the covered bridge. After the ride we enjoyed a socially distanced lunch with three kinds of chili, cornbread, side dishes, and desserts. We were joined by several non riding members.
Our Christmas Soup Ride had to be postponed from December 5 due to heavy rain but we were able to hold it on Sunday, the 13th. Only five riders braved the mud to ride but several other members joined us after for—again socially distanced—soup, breads, and desserts on the Rough Draft Farm porch. The soups were all delicious but Nancy’s cream of mushroom was the best I’ve ever tasted. It was a nice warm day and several of our injured members were able to make it for a visit. Beverly Torell and Cathy Clouse were able to compare their recent comparing rotator cuff surgery experiences. And Hannah is healing. See pictures pages 6 and 7 of the newsletter. Rain was predicted for New Year’s Day (even though it didn’t materialize) so we moved the Annual Freeze Your Butt Ride to Sunday the 3rd. The weather was still pretty iffy and several who had RSVPd ended up bailing. Five diehards rode despite the sleet and wind. My cheeks were more frozen than my butt, even Liz didn’t take many pictures. our hands were too cold to take off our gloves! Sarah Grote met Liz to take some “alumni” pictures of her and Clover to highlight their successful adoption story for the Connecticut Draft Horse Rescue. Liz’s husband made lobster salad sandwiches and we had hot chocolate and cookies after the ride. See pictures page 8.
Please see the Upcoming Events box on the first page and the Calendar on the last page for more activities. We always need ideas for the calendar—this year more than ever! Any ride ideas you would have brought to the Pizza and Planning Meeting are extremely welcome. And if you want to share the calendars from other local horse groups we will try not to schedule on conflicting dates. I really want everyone to be safe but I hope we can resume more normal activities soon. I miss Games Day and our social events so much! I really miss hugging my friends!
I hope to see you soon!
Melissa
PS LCRVHC membership is really a bargain at only $15 annually for individual, $25 for family. If you have friends you ride with or know people who are interested in trail riding with small groups or working on local trails, spread the word. And please, I can’t say it often enough, tell us what you want to do as a club!
(Read the full newsletter here)
