Ontario Competitive Trail Riding Association

Dr. Sarah Tiller is our new co-chair, along with Dr. Brianne Henderson, of our Vet & Lay Judge Committee. 

Sarah’s mentor and dear friend was Ruth Kitchen, an OCTRA pioneer. Long time members will remember Ruth well.  Sarah graduated OVC in 1985 and went on to own her own veterinary clinic for over 20 years. She bought her first horse, a pure bred Arabian filly in 1974 and competed in OCTRA events through the 70’s and 80’s during which time she also found the time to have three children.  Sarah retired in 2010 and is thrilled to be back in the OCTRA family. 

 “I can still ride my current horse like I did at fifteen … well, I feel like that anyway!”. 

We thank Sarah for taking this on and welcome her to her new “job”. 

Anyone interested in more information on becoming a Lay Judge or a certified OCTRA Vet should read through the requirements in our Policy Statements under Files.

                       

    Photo: Courtesy of Deanna Ramsay                   

A note from Lopin’ Larose Trail Masters & Organizing Committee:

New Base Camp is now at the other end of the Larose Forest than last year. The address is 4858 Champlain Road, Bourget, Ontario, K0A 1E0.

Please note, our base camp from last year is not available this year; however, the Forestry Office has offered the use of their office grounds as base camp! It is equally lovely, if not more so.  There is limited parking available on Friday night and Sunday night. Please contact Christina Young directly for information on camping on those days. Otherwise, ride camp opens at 10am on Saturday, October 15.

As well, your dedicated and passionate Trail Masters put in some very long hours and have re-selected, re-calculated, and re-marked a significant amount of trail around the new base camp and we now have a course equally as beautiful and fun for you to enjoy!

40k/25mi CTR:
The 40k CTR will consist of two loops (one loop done twice) of 12.5 miles. Water is available at approximately the halfway point. Footing is mainly wide, grassy dirt forest; however, there is approximately 3 miles of contiguous pea-type gravel on the loop (we apologize for this; however, there truly is no way around it). There are mowed grassy sides to all gravel areas. Hoof protection is recommended.

80k/50mi Endurance:
The 50 mile Endurance ride will consist of three loops (16.5 miles, 17 miles, 16.5 miles). Water is available approximately every 5 miles. Footing is mainly wide, grassy dirt forest or packed dirt road. The first and last loop has approximately 3 contiguous miles of pea-type gravel. There are mowed grassy sides to all gravel areas. Hoof protection is recommended.

See you this weekend!

 

Always send flyers and other details related to your rides to webmaster@octra.on.ca so the OCTRA calendar can accurately reflect your planning, events, and registration process. Putting this information only on Facebook is insufficient. People who use Facebook will see it, but others will not. Note: the OCTRA webmaster never uses Facebook as the source for event information.

 

We are pleased to announce that David Morgan has agreed to take on the challenging tasks of OCTRA Webmaster & Data Base Administrator.  David has extensive experience in both areas and has been building websites since 1992 when the internet was still in its infancy.  His experience reflects his strengths in both information presentation (websites) and information management (databases).  And of course, we all know him, from OCTRA Rides as half the team of Great Leads ‘n Reins, along with his wife Kate (and of course their pup Maggie ).

Ride results are of course a priority and David is currently hard at work getting to know the system and is confident he will have them ready for Julie Phair, our Awards Chair, by that all important December 15^th deadline.  If any member has questions, concerns or suggestions they should contact David at webmaster@octra.on.  He welcomes input but hopes everyone will be patient while he gets up to speed.

The Board would like to thank everyone who offered to take on this position and would also like to once again thank Deanna for her years of service and hard work in this and other areas as well as for her ongoing and future contributions to our Association.