Sky Riders have special season

To the editor: Sky Riders of Jay County bring home the gold, silver, and bronze. The excitement was overwhelming as Jay County's five riders competed with 129 other equestrians in a total of 60 classes, using three arenas at the same time.

Who would have thought that just last year four people could join together with a goal in mind to have a team of equestrians ready to compete on a state level; some of whom had never been around a horse before, let alone ride and show?

We decided the name of our group would be the Sky Riders and determined that the sky is the limit when it comes to what we could do.

We started meeting at Bearcreek Farms in their indoor arena and Carla was so gracious to let us continue to meet there every month to work, learn and practice. Thank you, Carla, from all of us.

Now, just one year later with four coaches, six volunteers and several helpers at various times, we have finished our first state competition with great joy and excitement.

We could not have accomplished a thing without our volunteers, helpers, or even the special people in our community purchasing some of our needed equipment. I would like to mention those people and thank them. Volunteers Carol Stocker, Jill Hall, Rhonda Short and Bill Loper helped us get started and brought horses to practices. Donnie and Susan brought the riders and helped with their needs.

Volunteers that took on the responsibility of helping us take these equestrians on to the state level were Cheryl Loper, Mike and Stacie Toney, Sarah Smith and two youth volunteers, Alyssa Hartley and Jocelyn Huey, who took the training and test to be volunteers. Thank you.

All these people and some I've forgotten to mention have made this dream come true.

We would like to thank Stan Teeters for purchasing our safety stirrup covers, and to Dan Schwartz for making them for us.

Our five equestrians, and their awards: Aaron Toney - 2 golds (western equitation and barrel racing), bronze (trail), 4th (showmanship); Martha Loper - gold (trail), 3 bronze (showmanship, western equitation, barrels); Sam Glessner - silver (showmanship), 4th (western equitation); Kristie Silverman - bronze (western riding), 6th (showmanship); Ron Smith - 4th (western equitation), 6th (showmanship). As you can see they all did great.

Now we are looking forward to next year and the opportunity to help even more special-needs equestrians. We welcome all volunteers, and we welcome all special-needs and disability levels. We also welcome all donations of equipment, such as items to set up our own practice trail class, cones for western riding and relay classes, and steps to help our riders mount safely. We are also in need of gentle, heavy-built horses.

We have a dream to just keep growing. Our other coaches in this dream are Jennifer and Terry Hartley, and my partner from the beginning, Steve Wilder.

This was an awesome year. Thank you all so much.

If you would like to know more, call (260) 726-8840 (Hartley) or (765) 369-3947 (Wilder).

Charlene Wilder

Redkey

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