Bring your horse – and your appetite
Hauser Lions Club plans fundraising trail ride, barbecue
The Hauser Lions Club invites trail riders – and those who enjoy a hearty lunch – to saddle up for Saturday’s Hauser Lions Club Horseback Trail Ride and Steak.
“Bring your horse, of course,” said Wiley Marks, a retiree who spends summers laying trail preparing for the ride.
Registration starts at 8 a.m. at the Matheson Ranch in Hauser Lake. Riders can start on their own between 9 and 11 a.m. or they can follow a guide who’ll leave the trailhead at 9 a.m. The cost is $15.
Riders can choose the 4- to 5-mile loop, which takes about an hour and a half, or the 10-mile loop, which takes three hours or so. Riders can use the flagged trails or logging roads or meander on their own.
“We have modified the course this year and added a loop to return to the trailhead,” said Marks, who has been trail riding, and breaking and training horses all his life.
Last year’s ride attracted about 150 riders of all ages.
“We are even starting to see a few more men participate,” Marks said.
Wayne Jorgenson, of Spokane, rides a registered paint quarter horse and has participated for five years. “I prefer riding on the mountain trails, and I get a steak dinner at the end,” Jorgenson said. “It is a good day.”
Members of the Hauser Lions Club started the ride in 2002 to raise money for the club’s humanitarian projects.
Proceeds from last year’s ride were used for hearing aids, glasses and cornea transplants and to help local causes like the Hauser Lake Watershed Coalition and the Hauser Fire Department. Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners were provided for local needy families. The club also awarded two $500 scholarships to University of Idaho students.
A steak barbecue lunch supervised by Marks’ wife, Gloria, will be served at 12:30 p.m. The menu also includes potatoes, beans and bread. Organizers stress that people don’t have to ride but can come around noon for lunch. A raffle will be held afterward.
Thanks to the generosity of Matheus Lumber of Hauser, all 4-H members will be able to eat and ride free of charge.
Post Falls resident Bob McMurray, a charter member of Hauser Lions Club and a past board member, rode a mule named JJ just for fun last year.
“The money goes to a great cause, the ride is well-organized, and the steak is great,” McMurray said.