Barbara, I don't think our Oregon rides will ever be able or even try to
put on a ride like this. First off, we have no place with this type of facility.
I sure wouldn't not go to a ride because it didn't offer this. This was just a
lovely treat for us and I appreciated a nice respite from my daily life.
The town of Greenville is a tiny little burg and thus the people are
wanting something to do for excitement and they all came out for the big event
so to speak. I am sure this was a "happening" for this little village.
Plus you have the owner of this dude ranch that is a horse person and
friend of the RM that was gracious enough to offer up his place.
I never thought of it in terms that she did this to bring in riders, it
just worked out that she had all this available to her and the kind people
of Greenville volunteered and donated their goods and services. The ride awards
were not anything to brag about, we got our pictures in a non descript frame,
not wooden either and that was fine. The BC was really nice, but all in all
not a lot of money spent on the overall awards, and I doubt anyone cared about
that, I sure didn't.
I can tell you from being the Awards Chair for Pacific Crest, that there
are ways to get nice prizes thru big companies as donations if one just takes a
minute to ask. Also thru your local feed and tack stores, you just have to
ask. I know our Rogue Riders Club was very pleased how little I spent of
their money on our great awards this year. They asked me to do it again next
year so I guess I did ok. But you just have to go after these people and ask for
help, they will help you if you ask nicely.
Our Oregon rides are in what ever cow pasture we can muster up or in the
high desert lands with a sage bush to pee behind if we can find it. That is good
enough for us. Nobody will ever not attend one of our rides because we don't
offer up such luxury as this ride. It was just a wonderful treat for once.
