About Learn From a Mentor Go Straight to the Mentor List
Mentors are the key to a great start in the sport of Ride & Tie. They can answer all of your Ride & Tie questions, coach you through a few practices and help you finish your first Ride & Tie race if you don't have a partner. Additionally, some of the mentors organize group practices in their areas. Mentors are a great resource for the newcomer.
Ride & Tie Mentors are a group of people dedicated to growing the sport of ride & tie by introducing (or re-introducing) people to the sport of ride & tie. Located throughout the country, mentors are the Association's "local experts". They are available to answer questions about the sport, to give advice about what to wear, how to prepare for and successfully finish a race and provide opportunities to practice ride & tie.
An example of this is in Orange County, California where Tom & Carol hold regular practices. Participants receive advance information about the practice location and what to wear and bring to the practice site. They try to team new people with experienced people. Other experienced teams will bring their horses and share their experience with new people. New people are encouraged to bring their horses. A quick "chalk talk" gives the basics of the sport and explains the course. Usually the course is 7 to 10 miles long and for the first 5 miles, everyone stays together at a slow pace. Frequent stops are made to explain and illustrate techniques like proper tie locations, when to exchange, how to do a "flying tie", how to pass or be passed by other teams, what poison oak looks like etc. New horses are tied along side experienced horses so they can learn how to stay calm as other horses run by them. Once everyone is more comfortable, teams are then encouraged to ride & tie at their own pace. Everyone meets back at the parking lot for snacks and review of the practice.
Here's a list of some of the Mentors and more are being added. If you have any questions about the Mentor program or are interested in becoming a Mentor, please contact Don Betts at RideAandTieDon@aol.com.
California:
Auburn: Cheryl Domnitch, cdefpe@aol.com, (530) 748-4305
Fresno: Don Strong, dons@deanshomer.com, (916) 402-5226
Malibu: Kirsten Seyferth, scatris@hotmail.com
Napa & Sonoma County: Peggy Smyth, Peggy@dburnsinc.com, (707) 965-3441
Newcastle: (Northern CA): Susan Smyth, sierra@psyber.com, (916) 663-9410
Orange County: Carol Ruprecht & Tom Gey, cruprecht@rideandtie.org, (949) 263-1772
South OC: Amanda Wood, awood4@cox.net, (949) 388-1050
Central OC: Melanie Weir, melaniew@socal.rr.com, (714) 321-3695
Redding: Karen Deaver, kdeaver@suhsd.net, (530) 275-8570
San Diego: Rufus Schneider, (619) 445-2060
San Jose: Steve Anderson, steve.anderson1@juno.com, (408) 249-2780
Santa Cruz: George Hall, DVM. gandjhall@sbcglobal.net, (831) 426-9337
Florida:
Karen Wolfsheimer, wolfsheimer@cox.net, (225) 767-9615
Idaho:
Sid Sullivan, sids@cableone.net
Kentucky:
Shay Hanson, adalynn.shay@hotmail.com, (502) 600-3733
Emily Shouse, medstoppharmacy@bellsouth.net, (502) 598-6483
Michigan:
Heather Huggins hhuggs@umich.edu
Oregon:
Annette Parsons & Jim Clover, aparsons@apbb.net
Beth Brinkley, cactusclanaz@hotmail.com, (520) 384-2948
Tennessee:
Joanne Mitchell,jfgmhorse@bellsouth.net
Texas:
Sherrie Reimers skreimers@aol.com
Utah:
Dave and Debbie Wagner, ddwags@redrock.net, (435) 658-3065
Virginia:
Lani Newcomb, give2bute@aol.com
Washington:
Western Washington: Lisa Preston,contact@rideandtie.org
Eastern Washington: Rachel Toor, racheltoor@earthlink.net
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