The annual Roche Percee Trail Ride and Wagon Trek, a weekend experience of horseback riding and living the old-fashioned Prairie life, is set to take place in August.
The rides begin on Aug. 17 at 1 p.m., Aug. 18 at 9 a.m. and Sunday Aug. 19 at 10:30 a.m.
“The ride is of course wonderful; it’s usually eight to 10 miles on the Friday and Sunday and Saturday is a longer day. It usually goes through the valley taking a different route each day and the scenery is beautiful,” said Joyce Schlapkohl, a co-ordinator for the Roche Percee Trail Ride and Wagon Trek.
This will be the first year that meals will not be provided to riders, so participants will be required to bring their own food and provisions for the weekend.
“There is no one available to do the meals anymore. The Roche Percee people can’t do it anymore. It’s just hard to get people to come out and do the meals, I don’t know if you could get a food truck or something like that down there,” said Schlapkohl.
Registration for the event is $20 per person before Aug. 13, and $30 per person after that. There is no age restriction for the ride, however, all children are to be supervised by parents and anyone 18 and under is required to wear an approved equestrian safety helmet.
“There is no smoking or alcohol allowed on the trail. Horses that kicked must wear a red ribbon, and all participants are encouraged to check equipment for safety,” said Schlapkohl.
Money raised from the event is donated to other horse organizations throughout the area with a small portion kept to cover the expense costs.
“There may be a little less of a turnout with no meals provided, but we hope for the best. We hope to continue next year but it depends on our registration this year and how many people we get, but it doesn’t really matter how many people you get, it’s how much fun they have. Two or three years ago we had almost 300 people come out but for the last two years it’s been around 90.
“There’s been a lot of factors into that like horse diseases one year and the price of gas for travelling, but around 100 people for us is the perfect number,” said Schlapkohl.
