by Courtney Llewellyn

The Brookfield Competitive Trail Ride/Drive Clinic and Competition returned this June to Chenango County, bringing in riders old and new.

The ride is hosted by Pure Country Campground in New Berlin and led by ride co-managers Joanna Lasher and Lynn Dunn. There are 15- and 25-mile rides and drives both days of the weekend, and the format allows entrants to enter one horse in either one or two 25-mile events (with two creating a 50-mile ride). It also allows one rider to ride a different horse each day, if they so choose.

The 2021 event brought in a total of 39 registered riders, who all set off on the trails beginning at 6:30 a.m. Riders have a limited amount of time to make it back to the finish line.

On Saturday, June 19 the first 15-milers across were Lorraine Granau riding her Morgan, Comet, and Laura Jungkind, riding Curly, a Bashkir Curly.

Granau said they had great weather for the day. She has ridden the Brookfield trails once before.

It was Jungkind’s first time participating, and she said she would “absolutely” ride again. “I would definitely recommend it,” she added.

The first 25-milers across on Day One were Jeannette Weber and Renee Foote.

This year, to make things easier after a year in which the rides were cancelled by pandemic restrictions, each rider was simply given a pass/fail completion rather than being ranked by time.