The Benefits of Belonging to
The Inland Empire Backcountry Horsemen
By Don Dyer

The really surprising thing is there are very few of us who know where most of these good riding spots are. In our chapter we are lucky to have at least two experts, two ladies who love to ride the front country and spend many hours and days doing just that and are very dedicated to developing a program. There is a good chance you could get invited on a ride, so come to a meeting and meet them.

For those of you who want to pack we will be giving you the opportunity to develop some packing skills in the very near future. Ride the West will be coming up in May and there will be a packing demo, as well as a booth for front country riders. For those that wish to learn to pack you can sign up for our packing clinic in June.

Between now and May we will be having several clinics, the seventh of April we have a First Aid Clinic designed strictly for Backcountry users. This is not a call 911 course as most of you will be remote and will not be able to call 911. It may even include a bit of survival. This course is going to be designed for an accident on the trail and what to do when it is just you and the other person. This clinic is for members only.

On the 21st of April we have a clinic for people that have horses and want to go camping with their horses but are not sure about how to do it. There are only two requirements to attend this clinic, the first is membership, and the second is your horse must stand tied. If you have never been camping we will attempt to help you with that also.

Most of our clinics are for our membership, some are free, some we have to charge for, as we hire outside experts to teach the clinics. A good example of this is the first aid clinic. We attempt to hire very knowledgeable instructors for our outside clinics as we want the best.

Another benefit of membership is what I consider basically a free membership. Each year I write a check for my membership but by years end I have made my money back with interest. How, Inland Empire Backcountry Horsemen are lucky enough to be sponsored by wonderful companies like Aslin Finch and others where we receive a discount on merchandise. I spend enough money there on feed and tack so that by the end of the year I have made my membership back plus. To me that is a great benefit, not only am I doing something positive by keeping trails open for horsemen to use but I am saving money doing it.