riders is something Amber Duncanson, a longtime club member who grew up in the Osakis Trail Blazers and now living in Mapleton, remembers fondly. Because of her own experience, she anticipates that the memories of being coached will remain with the young riders.

“ I remember being a kid and hearing Kobe Judd telling me what to do. Those are the things that stick with you years later, so I’ m imagining it’ s the same way for them now, getting coached from the sidelines. Those are the things they’ ll remember,” Duncanson said.

Bayer said the Osakis Trail Blazers hold shows at the club arena east of Osakis about four times per year. Additional meetings are often held about five times a year at the Little Sauk American Legion.

The club is also a member of the WSCA and hosts a number of WSCA-sanctioned shows with multiple timed gaming events, such as barrel racing, pole weaving, keyhole, jumping figure eight and more. The events are also divided by age groups- peewee, junior, intermediate, senior and senior plus, which allows riders to compete with their peers, Bayer said.

As to WSCA, the organization has about 180 member clubs and was founded

in 1955. WSCA President Lynn Allen of St. Martin said the WSCA’ s mission centers on sportsmanship, good horsemanship, education and creating environments where families can come, participate and just have a good, fun time.

“ It’ s been a privilege for me to be involved with and I’ ve met a lot of great people. I just enjoy it immensely,” she said.

Allen said WSCA operates primarily in Minnesota and Wisconsin with a small number of participating clubs in North Dakota. Various WSCA-sanctioned shows are held throughout the year by member clubs, where riders have the opportunity to compete. To qualify to compete in the WSCA Championship Horse Show, a rider and his or her horse will need to place first or second in a specific class at an approved qualifying show during the designated time frame. The rider will also need to be a member of an official WSCA member saddle club, Allen said.

The large end-of-year WSCA Championship Horse show is usually held the third week in September at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds and is held over several days.

“ It’ s one of the biggest open shows in the country,” Allen said.

In recent years, Allen said, WSCA has

expanded to include adaptive classes with more and more local saddle club events adding them to their programs.

“ It’ s fantastic to be able to give people a place where everybody can be involved,” she said.

The same is applied to horse breeds as all types of breeds are allowed to compete in WSCA events.

“ You’ ll see every color under the sun, every shape and every size. We’ ve had draft horses running barrels,” she said.

Besides serving as the WSCA president, Allen has also served as a judge for about 17 years. Riders are judged by a WSCA judge based on specific discipline criteria that is outlined in the official WSCA rulebook that focus on riders’ performance, manners and execution. For example, Allen said, in pleasure classes judges consider the natural movement and suitability of the horse( quality and conformation) and the horse and rider delivering a true, balanced and responsive execution of the gaits at a walk, jog and lope( performance). Additionally, judges look at how willingly, quietly and smoothly the horse transitions between the gaits( manners and disposition). For gaming and speeding events, such as barrels, poles, keyhole and jumping

figure eight, judges consider how accurately the rider and horse complete the course without knocking over any props and how long it took them.

“ The fastest clean run is the best run,” Allen said.

The love of horses has been with many riders for a long time. Bayer is no exception. She recalls her dad buying her a Paint horse she named“ Girl” when she was in fifth grade. It was the beginning to a lifetime filled with horses.

“ I’ m 74, so that’ s a lot of years,” she said.

At first, she just rode at home and as time went by, started competing in the limited local opportunities there were. Although decades have passed since those years spent with Girl, Bayer recalls riding her mare about five miles one way to get to the county fair.

The love for horses was transferred to her daughters and later, her grandchildren, as well. That includes competing seriously. In a sense, the love for horses has become a multigenerational family tradition. Part of it ties into their connection with the Osakis Trail Blazers and WSCA. After all, they’ re family, she said.

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