by Ken Carmichael of Ponderosa Back Country Horseman
The Equestrian Area at Riverside State Park near Spokane provides a wonderful venue for horsemen. Many of us take advantage of the campground, arena, round pen and trail obstacle course. Groups use it for events, individuals use it for training and exercising their horses and travelers use it as a stopover to rest horses as they come through Spokane. The equestrian area is connected to about 80 miles of trails in the park. It serves many equestrian needs of our community.
The Ponderosa Chapter of Back Country Horsemen is developing plans to do maintenance & additions to the features. Here is a quick summary of what we want to do:
Trail obstacle course: perform maintenance on current obstacles and create new obstacles. Arena: new stain on the rails. Campground: add more corrals to the existing campsites. Trails: limb some trees that have grown out over the trails. We have committees established to work on each project. The process includes: Identifying the work to be done, cost estimates, Parks approval and assistance where required, Materials/tools, Funding & Work parties.
A lot goes into the projects prior to the work parties. We hope to do the maintenance on the trail course and stain the arena this year. Additional trail course obstacles will probably be in the spring. Other work will be done as labor and funding is available.
Funding for projects like this is important. In this case the Ponderosa BCH & the Riverside State Park Foundation are taking the lead. However, we always need cash donations for materials and in-kind donations of materials. Individuals and organizations can make “restricted donations” to Ponderosa Back Country Horsemen. Donations can specify a project. Contact me for ideas on specific materials needed. Work parties are really the fun part of the project. If you, or your organization, would like to help we would love to have you. Any questions, please contact me. I am always ready to talk about the project, provide more information or accept your contributions & labor. Ken Carmichael, 509-466-2225 or KCarmichael2225@gmail.com
