Merry Christmas

Thanks to everyone who came to the Christmas Party, despite the dreary weather. We had some fabulous food in the barn and enjoyed a Chinese gift exchange. I'm not sure how Miss Lisa manages to keep her gift every year, but she does. Must be that "stink eye" that she gave the would-be gift stealers!

After the gifts were opened, we opened the barn doors to find a nasty drizzling rain. The campfire was going nicely, but not exactly good weather for sitting outside. Most everyone left and the cleanup crew went inside to do dishes and pack away food. Lo and behold, like a Christmas miracle, when we went outside again, the rain had stopped and we sat by the fire until midnight. It was a very fun evening and thanks to all who supported this event!

LARA Christmas Party

It's time again for our Christmas celebration! Members are invited to join the party Dec 10th at the Woodard's House. Turkey and ham will be provided by LARA and members are asked to bring a side-dish to share. We will have a campfire and Chinese gift exchange. Please RSVP to Lisa (khladyfish@comcast.net) and let her know what food you will be bringing. We look forward to another memorable celebration!

Channel 4 Interview - America's Favorite Trail Horse

Mary Baer with channel 4 news interviewed Mike and Traci (And Rusty) just before their episode aired on HRTV. The interview aired Oct 31st and then on Nov 1st, Rusty competed on America's Favorite Trail Horse. The story was in perfect time to encourage everyone to vote for #357!

Click here to see the interview from www.news4jax.com

3rd Annual Fall Poker Ride

Despite a wet early morning, our Fall Poker Ride was a fun event. Riders showed up from near and far to enjoy the trails at Gustafsons Ranch. The six mile course was decorated with Halloween ghosts and goblins and riders enjoyed seeing some new sights on the ranch.

As always, we had a super-fantastic lunch (thanks volunteers!) and some raffle prizes were given away and LARA member Micki won the $100 prize for the best poker hand. All in all it was a good day and we look forward to our next adventure.

click here to see pictures of the ride. and more pictures here!

Woodard's Obstacle Challenge

Despite impending bad weather, the obstacle challenge went on, rain or shine. The rain held off Friday long enough to get most of the obstacles set up. Saturday started with a monsoon rain and high winds about 7AM, but then the weather cleared and the world-famous set up crew put the finishing touches on TWO outstanding courses. Due to the high number of entries, we had a course for in-hand and a different course for riders.

After a quick walk through, the competition began. There were many good riders and horses, and it was nice to hear everyone cheering on their fellow riders. At the mid-point, some really cool raffle prizes were given away. Special thanks to those who bought T-shirts and tickets for the Cowgirl Swank bling cap. Proceeds from these items will be donated to the Leukemia Society.

As always, LARA members made a good showing, both on the course and off. Without you all, we could never have been able to put on this event. Thank you for your support and participation. To see pictures of the event, click here!

3rd Annual Poker Ride

Please join us Saturday October 29th for the LARA Poker Ride. We have been fortunate to secure a non-hunting location for the ride this year. Thanks to the generosity of Sherwood Gustafson, the ride will be held at Gustafson Ranch in Green Cove Springs.

The ranch encompasses thousands of acres and in the past was home to over 10,000 dairy cows. The Gustafsons no longer make milk, and the land is now used for timber, cattle and deer. This is a unique opportunity to be able to ride on this beautiful private property.

There is not a street address for the entrance to the ranch... It is on Oak Ridge Ave, between Hwy 16 and Hwy 17. Coming from Green Cove, you pass the old dairy on the left and a little distance further on the right is the entrance to the area we will be using. We will put out plenty of markers so you will know where to turn and park.

For more info, registration, and release form, please click here

GROOMING CLINIC OCTOBER 1ST

We have a great grooming clinic scheduled for October 1st at the LARA arena. This is open to members and non-members, and you can either bring your horse and participate or audit the clinic.

Topics to be covered include clipping, braiding, banding, hoof polishing, and general tips for preparing for a horse show... OR if you don't show and just want to know how to braid and some good grooming tips, you will enjoy this clinic too!

Fees for the clinic are: Members $15 / Non Members $25 / Auditors (no horse) $10.
Please RSVP to Lisa to reserve your spot.

Click here for more details!

Worthwhile Website

I would like to invite everyone to visit an excellent website... it is www.riders4helmets.com. Some very good information and statistics are offered on this site, as well as some very touching stories.

I am guilty of sacrificing safety for "looking cool," but after seeing a video about Olympic dressage rider, Courtney King Dye and her TBI (traumatic brain injury) I am going to try to be a better rider and wear a helmet. This is an unpredictable sport that we love. It doesn't matter if you are riding a green 2 year old or your 25 year old broodmare, anything can happen. Courtney's horse was walking and tripped and the fall was near fatal for the rider. She is still trying to learn to speak again.

Last weekend I rode at Union County Riding Club with a bunch of barrel racers. I DID wear my helmet and I DID get some looks, but some of the looks were from kids, so if I can set an example for them, I feel that I have done my part in spreading the message. Do your part... Use your Head.... Strap one On!

August Meeting

We had a fabulous first meeting for this year! A large crowd attended, despite hard rain and after-work traffic. Guest speakers from Black Sheep Search and Rescue (including LARA's very own JIM WILL!) told us about their mission and training and invited members to come out and see if it is something they would be interested in. It was very interesting to hear some of their stories.

Newly amended by-laws were available for review as well as financial information. LARA has an exciting year planned. Everyone is looking forward to the cooler weather so we can get out and ride without suffering from heat and/or bugs! Thanks to all who attended.

Click here to see photos from the meeting.

LARA 20111-2012 Membership Season Kicks Off

The new year has begun for Lake Asbury Riding Association. If you wish to become a member or renew your membership, please contact Lisa Buchanan, or join us at the first meeting of our new year. The meeting will be held at 7PM on Thursday August 18th at the Lake Asbury Community Building. We will discuss plans for the new year and update you on our events and community service plans. This will be an exciting year and we hope you can be a part of it! We need your participation, both as a volunteer and/or participant. Support YOUR club!

Autumn Obstacle Challenge

The Woodards are putting on an Obstacle Challenge October 8th at Bond Arena in Middleburg. There will be classes for Adult and Youth as well as in-hand and under saddle divisions. Entries are limited to 50 participants, so if you are interested in participating, please contact Traci Woodard for more info. We have some great raffle items, including a custom made cap by Cowgirl Swank - who designs caps for Miss Rodeo America.

LARA Picnic at Jennings

Don't forget the club picnic this Saturday June 25th at the Live Oak trail head in Jennings Forest. Come early and ride before lunch. Club will provide hotdogs and drinks. Participants are asked to bring a side dish or dessert to share! Please contact Lisa if you plan to attend (khladyfish@comcast.net) We hope to see you Saturday!

MEETING RE-SCHEDULED

Our club meeting that was scheduled for today, June 16th, has been re-scheduled to July 21st. This is necessary to allow proper time for the official voting process. Please watch your snail mail box for a ballot! Be sure to join us for the meeting on July 21st!

Another Year in the Books

Our calendar year is coming to a close.. what a lot to think back on. I think it is safe to say that our little club is doing well and serving the community well. Membership has increased and brought with it new friends and new outlooks on the equestrian neighborhood. It seems that there is a common bond of helping others. We have gone above and beyond the goals we set for ourselves a year ago. Two benefit events blessed with overwhelming generosity touched the lives of several local families. Members have set out to improve their skills or just dedicate more time to the special animals in our lives. How lucky we are to be a part of LARA and to know that we are doing good for the community.

Be a part of the new year. Help in planning and making things happen. Invite friends to come see what we are all about. We are looking forward to another exciting year!

Memorial Day Ride at the Ravines

A group of riders met at the Ravines on Memorial Day Morning and had a nice ride. As always it was an exciting ride, with Wild Bill's horse demonstrating his free-style skills, Sprite's baptism in Black Creek, and Hunter's acrobatic skills. Click here to see pictures of the outing.

Welaka Poker Ride Hot but Fun

LARA and NFAHC teamed up and hosted a benefit Poker Ride for friend and member Chris Dunn. The trail marking team did a good job of putting together a nice 2 1/2 hour ride for participants. Although they came back hot and dusty, there were many smiles.

Chefs Lisa & Ernie prepared a nice lunch for us as well as fixin's from Sharon Jean's Cafe. Many great items were donated for the raffle give aways. Windy won the 50/50 money and Brenda won $100 for the best poker hand.

Thanks to all the volunteers and riders that made this event a fun day and a great success for a good cause. Proceeds were donated to help Chris with her expenses. We are very fortunate to live in this wonderful horse community!

Click here to see pictures of the event! or HERE for more photos! Scouting trail photos...

America's Favorite Trail Horse - Rusty Executive

Mike, Traci, Karen and Rusty are back from Texas and the filming of the upcoming reality show called America's Favorite Trail Horse. The show will air in September on HRTV. More info will be posted later so you can cast your vote and make the LARA team tops! Click here to see pictures from the trip!

TX Bound!

Traci, Mike and Rusty are Texas Bound to compete in ACTHA's America's Favorite Trail Horse Competition. The support from the horse community, friends, and family has been overwhelming. Stay tuned for pictures and high lights from this chance of a lifetime adventure!

Prayers for Chris Dunn

Members, please join us at the upcoming meeting to discuss a proposed benefit event for fellow member Chris Dunn...

Chris recently had back surgery and due to complications afterwards is partially paralyzed and in a wheelchair. One of her legs is totally paralyzed and there are additional complications as well. She has physical therapy three times a week in addition to other doctor appointments and her medical costs are considerable.....to say the least.

Many of you will remember that last year we voted to make Chris and Dale Dunn honorary members of LARA in recognition of their hard work and dedication in the horse community. Chris and Dale own and operate Ravenwood Farm in Keystone Heights which is in part, a rescue operation for horses, dogs and many other animals. They have given tirelessly to the community by volunteering their time to work with local vets to do microchip clinics, traveled to the gulf states a few years back during the hurricanes to rescue horses and other animals that were lost and/or injured. I know they rescue, care for and rehome many animals at Ravenwood. I know their contributions to the equine community are many....I am only sharing what I have personal knowledge of...

Chris was a guest speaker for our September 2010 meeting and shared many stories with us on the tragic events they have witnessed and did a presentation on hurricane preparedness. They also did a micro chip clinic in June 2010 for us at the arena with Wendy Cusick.

MW Benefit Trail Ride

Thanks to everyone who came out to show support for Mike Woodard this weekend at the benefit trail ride at Jennings. We had a great turnout- 58 riders participated and there were many friends who came by to visit and help out. It was a day of fun and fellowship and a very successful one.

Thanks to everyone who donated items for the silent auction and to our volunteers who made it all possible.

A special thank you to North Florida Arabian Horse Club and their members for co hosting with our Club, in particular- Nancy Pooley, NFAHC President (and LARA member!) and Chris Will, NFAHC Treasurer (and LARA member! ) who organized and conducted the silent auction and to Carol Wells, NFAHC Volunteer Coordinator (and LARA member! ) who is my right arm.

Many thanks to Jim Will, NFAHC Board of Directors (and LARA member!) It was Jim's idea to put together a special fundraiser for Mike. The rest of us just followed his lead. Thank you so much Jim - for giving so much of your time and energy to help Mike and Traci by taking such good care of their beloved horses & dogs and the barn chores while Mike has been receiving his treatments. This is a time when true friends show themselves by being a beacon in the night. This is true of all of you who stepped forward to give.
Click to view PICTURES and MORE PICTURES!

DRY CREEK RANCH Benefit Obstacle Challenge

WOW!!! The benefit obstacle challenge at Dry Creek Ranch in Lawtey was an unbelievable day! There were over 30 participants and who knows how many spectators and supporters! The day started in a rush with last minute preparation by hosts Nancy and Bill. Coffee and donuts greeted visitors, along with an enthusiastic Karen G who spear-headed the raffle ticket sales.

Competition started around 9:45 and ran through lunch time, with prize drawings about every 20 minutes... YES we had THAT much stuff to give away!! We enjoyed hot dogs and BBQ sandwiches for lunch, then got back to the obstacle challenge. Riders and horses all did their best and we even had one perfect score, belonging to LARA member Rachel! Congratulations! Around 2PM there was a drawing for a very nice western saddle donated by Harold and Ginny Delaney. Again, congrats to LARA member Mickie for winning the saddle.

The competiton finally wrapped up around 5:00 PM when trophies were presented to the numerous winners. Click here to see the results! Everyone put in alot of work for this event, and a nice monetary donation was made to Mike to help with his financial needs. Thank you so much to everyone!!!

Click HERE for the pictures !

Benefits for Mike

Mike is getting stronger each day. He still has some treatments to complete, but his blood is growing and his doctor cannot find any cancer cells! Blessings a plenty!

We are looking forward to the upcoming Benefit Obstacle Challenge at Dry Creek Ranch in Lawtey on April 9th. The hosts have been working hard to make everything fun and entertaining. They have lots of good food and raffle items lined up. Come and try your expertise with the obstacles, or come and ride the trails that leave from Dry Creek Ranch. All proceeds are to help Mike pay for necessities!

Also... Don't forget the benefit trail ride on April 16th at the Live Oak Trail Head in Jennings Forest. A nice ride, good food, time with friends, a silent auction... all for a good cause! Bring a new or gently used horsey item to donate to the silent auction! We hope to see you there!

Benefit Obstacle Challenge & Benefit Trail Ride

Welcome Home Dad!

I missed you and so did all your friends. They're having two Benefit Events to help you out.

Your buddies can click on the links below for information and registration.

Benefit Obstacle Challenge - April 9

Benefit Trail Ride - April 16

Benefit Trail Ride for Mike

LARA & NFAHC are hosting a benefit trail ride for Mike Woodard. The ride will be April 16th at Jennings Forest. Cost is $15 per rider and includes lunch. The host clubs are donating food and Jennings Forest has waived the $2 use fee to help our cause. Please RSVP to khladyfish@comcast.net if you would like to participate. You don't have to pay in advance, this is just to plan for food purchases. If you don't want to ride, but would like to volunteer to help on the day of the ride, please contact Jim Will or Lisa. There will also be a silent auction, so if you have any gently used items that you would like to donate for the auction, please bring them with you so we can display them for bidding.

Another way you can help is to donate blood for Mike. He has an account with the FL-GA Blood Alliance. You can log on to www.igiveblood.com and donate in his name (acct #0190.) Thank you for helping out!

Get Well Soon

Club member Mike Woodard has been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. This has been a shock for friends and family, as Mike is otherwise healthy and spends all of his spare time being active and enjoying horses. Mike was admitted at OPMC Feb 15th and has received a week-long treatment of chemotherapy which will hopefully kill all of the bad cells. A bone marrow biopsy will be performed 3/7 to find out if the treatment worked. Mike has to remain in the hospital as he is receiving daily blood transfusions and he has no immune system. The doctors are hopeful that this single treatment of chemo will bring him into remission.

Thanks to all our friends and neighbors who have given up portions of their lives to help out at the farm. The horses and dogs hardly know that anything is different, other than new people are bringing them dinner and playing with them! Thanks for the flowers and food and love and prayers. We are truly blessed to have such a good group of people in our lives.

If anyone is a blood donor, you can donate in Mike's name and it gives him a credit on his blood account. He may also need a bone marrow transplant, so if you have any extra bone marrow, remember Mike!

For blood donations go to http://www.igiveblood.com/ and his account number is 0190.

2nd Annual Obstacle Challenge a Success!

WOW! Thanks to the 50+ participants in our obstacle challenge. The weather was perfect and we had a fun-filled long day at Diamond D. The obstacles proved quite challenging for quite a few contestants, but it was a good learning experience and a common comment was "now I know what we need to work on at home!"

The Giant Ant re-appeared from last year, as well as some new obstacles which included a bottomless water hazard and a giant Tweety bird in a red wagon. We are already planning for next year's event. Special thanks to all of our members that helped make the day run smoothly. Our well-oiled machine parked cars, checked Coggin's, registered riders, served food, timed obstacles and cleaned up the picnic grounds. I think we will have several new members after last weekend... since some new folks got to participate in our club fun! Here's a link to the photos that Lisa took- PHOTOS

Results for the challenge are as follows:
Adult in hand - Champion Lynn Shinkle / Reserve Courtney King
Adult under saddle - Champion Gwenn Wilds / Reserve Jennifer Hall
Youth in hand - Champion Sydney Hall / Reserve - #103 name??
Youth under saddle - Champion & Reserve - Alex Bridges

click here to see score sheets.

Pictures by photographer will be posted on http://www.marktimephoto.com/ when he has them ready. here is the link to his pictures.

Riding Instruction With Karen

Karen's riding instruction was a fun day for all. Several members and guests enjoyed lessons with Karen at the Woodard's House (due to bad LARA arena conditions!) There was a youth rider polishing her English riding skills (with a western pleasure horse), several ladies learned some secrets about riding gaited horses, and one brave soul rode a distracted Appaloosa gelding, who ended the day on a positive note with some fine tuned barrel navigation skills.

Following the lessons the gang went to Stone E Cabin for an fantastic BBQ lunch. It was a great day of learning and friendship. Thanks to Karen for sharing her knowledge with the group. We look forward to the next lesson day and hope to schedule one per month. Lessons are individual and based on each riders personal skill level and interests. Contact Lisa to schedule your time for the next clinic.

Obstacle Practice Re-scheduled

Due to poor conditions at the arena, the obstacle practice that was scheduled for January 29th has been re-scheduled to February 5th. This practice is open to LARA members only. You do not have to participate in the OBSTACLE CHALLENGE on Feb. 12th to come to the practice day... BUT.... we sure would like it if you would come for the big event. Lots of fun and some cool prizes will be given away.

Horse Dentist Visits Middleburg

Thanks to Boomer Rowles for providing dental services to our members and friends. Boomer came to the Woodard's place on the 15th to tend to the dental needs of 10 horses, ranging from a yearling to some senior citizens. All patients were successfully treated without sedatives or speculum, including one wolf tooth extraction. It was a long day for the dentist, with services starting around 9:30 AM and the last one finished up around 3:30PM. He will return on Feb 19th for more patients. If you are interested in reserving a spot, email twoodard@stellar.net. Spots are very limited!

Do YOUR Part

Thanks to the volunteers that participated in the Roadside Clean up and Arena Clean up. Please remember that WE are committed to the roadside cleanup every other month to fulfill our community service charter. Make time in your schedule to volunteer. It seems that the same people are the volunteers most of the time. Do your part and share in the work as well as the fun.

OBSTACLE CHALLENGE FEB 12

Thanks to the generosity of Mike Griffin, we are having the obstacle challenge at Diamond D Ranch... yes the same place as we had the Poker Ride in October! We are very excited to have this beautiful facility for our event. Volunteers are needed to work and of course competitors are needed to have some fun!

Several age divisions and the option to ride or lead your horse make this an event for EVERYONE. Don't miss out on the fun. Click here for registration.